Alien Vs Predator: Annihiliation
by K'Shai
Summary: I wrote this story almost 20 years ago, and never shared it before in its full complete version until now. Set in Modern Day Earth, when xenomorphs overrun the planet, who will live, who die... how will life change forever? Mild language and gore. Graphic sexual content with Yautja (M) / human (F) in later chapters. Enjoy, and comments welcome.
1. Prologue

**PROLOGUE**

"Come on, Dad, we're almost there!" he called out eagerly.

Travis was ten, it was summer time, school was out, and he had been waiting for an eternity for this little camping trip. The state game and camping grounds were literally their back yard, and although Travis and his friends from school often played in them, there was something unique about the woods today, during this rare outing with his father. He always seemed to be at work, even on the weekends while he was home. There was hardly ever any days free to spend some quality time together.

Today had been a real treat. The pair went fishing in the lake about two miles away from their house. The catches weren't really that terrific, but of course, no one had to know that. Travis was already coming up with little white lies about giant, man-eating fish that he and his father wrestled onto the shores of Mekinwah Lake. The thought that no one would believe his story about such monsters here never occurred to him and did not matter.

They had now been walking for miles through the woods, well beyond where Travis's parents would let him and his friends go play because it was just too far from their house. He ran quickly up to the top of a small hill, waiting impatiently for his father to catch up to him.

"Slow down, son! Take it easy on your old man," his father called out.

He took a deep breath and hiked up the hill, wondering how he got stuck carrying two fishing poles, tackle boxes, the Styrofoam box full of soda cans, and two back packs full of sleeping bags, chips, and little plastic action figure heroes. He smiled all the same and caught up to his son.

"Well, whaddya think, Trav? Is this a good spot?" He asked his son while glancing around off the hill and dropping the load he carried.

He stopped and absorbed the trees, rocks, and lake that created nature's beauty all around them. The red dirt glistened in the early dusk light, and birds and crickets chirped from the trees and grass around them. Beyond those trees, the lights on the city's skyscrapers were visible, which did slightly ruin an otherwise serene view.

"Oh yeah!" Travis said.

They unrolled their sleeping bags and sat down on top of them, watching the sun setting just beyond the crest of another hill. Travis munched away on some cheese curls, while his father drank a refreshingly cold soda. The heat was almost unbearable. Georgia summer times were always hot, of course, but adding in the exercise factor on top of the ninety plus degree weather, he was glad to sit down and drink something cool. One doesn't seem to get into shape driving a Lincoln Towncar into the city and walking from the parking garage to the elevator, he thought vaguely.

Despite the hot air, it felt great to get out into the open with his son. He didn't bother himself to think about how his boy felt, hardly ever having his father around. Hopefully, he thought, Travis would come to understand. Work was stressful and time-consuming, but he had to work to survive. It was the way of the world. He worked hard to provide for his family, and he provided well, and was successful at his job. He would always love to spend more time with his boy, but life couldn't stop because there was a soccer game on a Saturday afternoon. He was glad, though, to take this weekend off, since work was slowing down just a bit, and spend some quality time with his son.

Like any parent, he wished that his boy would grow up and see a better world, a world where Wall Street, and profit and money weren't as important as they were today. Perhaps even in that world, a person could simply get up and travel from place to place, and not have to worry about a job, or expenses.

"So come'ere then, and spend some quality, non-hiking, time with your Dad."

Travis grinned and slid over to his father.

"Where should we hang up those monster fish trophies of yours, after we get them stuffed?"

"I dunno, Dad," Travis said, reaching into a cooler and pulling out the chain with four less than half-pound blue gills strung on it. "I don't think there's a wall big enough for them."

"Yeah," his father laughed, "right."

"Ahh!" Travis screamed. "It's got me!" He had a finger shoved into on of the fishes mouths, and was rattling the chains, pretending that the fish had come alive and was beginning to devour him.

"You're silly," his father said. "Watch out, they have four-inch fangs in their mouths," he teased.

They filleted the fish and started up a small fire. By the time the fish had been cooked, there was such little meat to eat, it hardly seemed worth all the effort, but it was the enjoyment of catching them that had made the time worthwhile. The meat didn't last long, and soon, father and son were eating the _real_ food, the remaining chips and store-bought goodies they had packed.

"Guess we wouldn't fare well on _Survivor_ , would we?"

Travis glanced at his father and shrugged as he pulled out a hand held video game system form his backpack and popped in the game cartridge, _Blood Fight III_. Travis paid half-attention to the game and talked to his father the whole time as well.

Time zoomed by, the sun had set, and before they realized, it was half past eleven o'clock. They were both getting tired, and it was going to be a long hike back home tomorrow, so the two decided to get some sleep. They fluffed up their backpacks into pillows and lay down on top of their sleeping bags. There was almost no point in even bringing the bags, as it was obviously going to be far too hot to sleep in them, but the satin lining felt cool against their bare legs anyway.

The sky was dark and the stars were out. For a while, the two lay staring up at the night sky, talking about anything that came to mind until they both ran out of words.

"Can we do this again, Dad?" Travis asked after a silent pause.

"Of course we can, son," He replied.

He didn't know exactly when, but he would try to get some more time off work eventually so he could spend more time with his son. He sighed and slowly shut his eyes and fidgeted his position to get more comfortable. He opened his eyes quickly for a moment just to reset the shuffled backpack under his head. He glanced over his shoulder and found that Travis had already fallen fast asleep. He laid his head back down. A glimmering light from an airplane in the sky caught his attention, but he shut his eyes and ignored it.

"Dad," Travis whispered as he shook his father's shoulder. "Dad."

"Wha? What is it?" he said licking his lips as he pulled his head up and squinted as a bright light flooded into his brain.

Travis held out the only flashlight they bothered to bring with them and was nervously shining it in his father's face at the moment.

"There's something out there. I think maybe a bear or something." Travis said as his father pushed the light out of his eyes.

"Trav, there's no bears out here."

The alarm in his son's voice, however, made him stop and listen, staring into the woods long enough to at least indulge the nervous boy. Nothing seemed to be moving, and no sounds were coming from the woods. Travis panned the flashlight through the trees, illuminating more trees and some rocks, nothing else.

"I think it's your imagination. Must be too many scary movies."

"I heard something," Travis said seriously.

The boy was spooked. His voice was squeaky and rattled, but his father was sure that whatever he had heard, if he wasn't imagining it, had passed. He glanced at his watch. It was just after two in the morning.

"It was probably some other campers, Travis. These are public lands, you know," his father reassured him. "Go ahead back to sleep."

Travis seemed contented by his father's response and calmness, and he did lie back down. In a few moments, he had fallen back asleep as his father scanned through the trees a few more times with the flashlight.

When no evidence of anything or anyone could be heard or seen, he returned to his own sleeping bag and laid his head down. Again, an airplane light caught his attention. He glanced up at it. It was definitely an airplane. It was ascending. He shut his eyes and soon fell back asleep, never thinking about how strange it was for an airplane to be ascending away from the state game lands, when there was no airstrip anywhere near there.

"Hey, pal…" A voice said. "Pal! Sssppt!"

Travis and his father woke up upon the sounds of the strange voices.

"Who are you?"

"Name's John. Heard some weird noises and came to see what was up."

"Noises?"

"See, Dad, there was a bear!" Travis said.

"Bear," John said. "Oh, I don't think…."

A woman appeared at the campsite from the woods, she looked scared.

The trio looked up.

"Deb, where's Tom and Shell?" John said.

The woman's eyes widened and she started crying hysterically.

"What's going on?" John insisted again.

He glanced at the boy and his father and noticed that they looked confused and startled by all the early morning commotion.

"Are you all right?"

The woman did not respond, instead she just dropped to the ground, fainted. John ran over to her and tried to wake her, but she was out cold.

"Ummm…you don't have a gun on ya, d'ya? John asked the father.

"No," he said. "What…"

He didn't finish his sentence. There was no need to. It was obvious by the look on John's face that he no more of a clue what had happened than he or Travis did.

"Something had to happen to them," John said, glancing over his shoulder into the woods.

"I'll bet the bear gottem," Travis said.

"That's enough!" his father barked at him.

"Bear…."John whispered to himself. "Oh shit, we need a gun…we should call someone or something…. call 911."

"Let's just see if we can't find them first, no need to call 911 before we know what's going on, or where your friends are."

John nodded at the stranger, and gently put his friend's body down on the ground. "Should we just leave her here?"

"For the moment, I guess so. Travis…" he said, turning to his son. "Stay here with this woman, we'll be back in a few minutes, OK?"

Travis looked frightened and uneasy, and it was obvious to his father that he did not want to remain behind at all, but the boy stayed quiet and nodded and the two men turned on their heels and marched into the woods.

"Tom! Shelly!" John called repeatedly as they walked. "Where are you!"

The woods were easy going, but there were some uplifted roots here and there, and the two men had to move cautiously as they searched. It was possible there were two injured people in the woods somewhere, and if they weren't careful, there could easily be two more, and that would do no good at all.

"What did you say you heard last night?"

John glanced at the helpful stranger and shrugged.

"Not really sure. We heard noises and saw some lights… thought someone was out here on some kind of ATV."

"They're not allowed in these woods."

"I know…that's what…wait."

John's words drifted off as he closed to a halt just before a clearing.

"Now, I could swear there used to be a lot more grass here"

The small clearing had always been there, but the grass that used to be there had been completely torn up. There was a deep spot in the center of the clearing, as though something like a big boulder had fallen and imbedded itself into the ground, but upon closer inspection, the men found a set of tracks and kicked up dirt all over the place.

"Maybe somebody was four-wheeling it."

"Tom? Shelly?" John called again loudly as the morning sun rose higher and higher.

They began to follow the tracks away from the small pit and entered the woods on the other side of the clearing. Suddenly, they could hear voices and footsteps.

John called for his friends again, but the voice that echoed back was Travis's.

"Dad!"

"Travis! I told you to…." he started, but stopped again when he saw that the fainted woman was with him. She looked like she had seen a ghost, but at least she was walking and had stopped crying.

"Jesus, Debbie…" John said, "Where in the hell are Tom and Shelly?"

Debbie shook her head and bit her lip, trying to hold back another nervous breakdown. She pointed forward, indicating at least that the small search party was on the right track.

"Come on," John said, holding out a hand to Debbie.

She held her ground and would not approach. Instead she backed away. "Don't go….let's get outta here," she whispered.

"What?" John said with a surprised tone in his voice.

"Why? What's going on?"

"Is there a bear in there?"

The woman looked between John and the father and son campers but said nothing. Tears started down her cheeks again and she looked tempted to bolt away or pass out, it was hard to tell.

Suddenly, something moved in the woods behind the group. They could hear leaves and sticks rattling on the ground. It sounded like nothing more than a rabbit or some other small creature rustling around beneath the shrubs. The sounds grew more numerous and closer.

The two men hunched their backs and leaned forward, trying to locate the source of the noises.

"Dad…" Travis whispered nervously.

"Shhh," his father said quickly, trying to hear the noise.

"Oh God, oh God, oh God…" Debbie started whispering repeatedly, hysterically as she stepped backwards, away from the clearing, and away from the two men.

John glanced back to her and frowned. Suddenly, the noises from the ground sounded a lot closer and faster. John whipped his head back around as Debbie screamed and the boy's father clambered backward, and fell flat out on the ground. John did not have time to notice that something unidentifiable and horrific seemed to be attached to the man's face. The only thing John noticed was the long fingers that had reached out from the bushes and grabbed his own face.

"Dad!" Travis shouted and dropped to his knees, sliding up to his father.

The frantic woman screamed hysterically, torn between running to grab the boy away or just running. She whipped around and began to run, but she did not see the tree root at her feet through her tears and fell flat on her face.

"Dad!" Travis called again.

He grabbed the thing that was choking his father and tried to pull. Whatever the thing was would not budge. He looked over at the other man. He was lying face down, but there was the same thing on that man's face as well. Travis's own tears began to block his vision and he never noticed that Debbie had stopped screaming because her neck, mouth, and face had become the resting grounds of another of the horrible creatures.

Travis quickly reached into his father's pocket and pulled out the cell phone. There was enough tower reception to get a signal through. He punched three digits and hit the send button as total panic set in. He didn't hear the numbers being dialed, or the phone ringing, because his attention had been drawn towards the edge of the clearing he sat dangerously close to. Another creature, with no face to hug, was moving quickly through the set of ATV tracks on the ground. Travis screamed to scare the creature away, but it seemed to only egg the animal on. The crab-like thing leapt into the air and Travis fell backwards.

"Nine-one-one, what's your emergency?" The woman's voice on the other end of the phone said. "Hello? Nine-one-one, what's your emergency? Hello?"


	2. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER ONE**

The mid afternoon sun was gleaming brightlyand cheerfully over the tops of the city

buildings on this nearly picture perfect mid June Friday. Radiant rays of warm sun shone through the occasional white fluffy cloud and flowed across the painted white lines of the athletic fieldbehind Hancock High School in New York City. A soft, comforting breeze ruffled the caps and gowns of the hundreds of graduating students that stood eagerly and excitedly upon the bleachers in front of their parents.

Many of the students were displaying mixed emotions about their upcoming rite of passage. Some were smiling over joyously, glad to finally be facing the end of their schooling, at least until college in the fall. Some were crying, sad to see the end of times, but still, there couldn't have been a nicer day to graduate.

The ceremony was coming to a close and the students, ready to get on with life, seemed to be paying their soon-to-be former principal no attention as he finished shuffling papers to get his long winded speech completed. The teachers all began to take their positions at each end of the bleachers and behind the principal, all smiling, happy to see their students finally graduating after a long semester.

One by one the students came forth at the announcement of their name, received their ceremonial diplomas and marched prominently off the make-shift stage, flowing together into giddy huddling groups on the turf as they found their friends and began proudly celebrating their high school graduation and talking about life to come, including all the big parties that would be going on this weekend.

Cassandra Reynolds eagerly chatted amongst a group of her now ex-classmates, smiling wildly and removing her boring, square graduating cap with its annoying tassel that had kept bopping her in the forehead throughout the entire graduation. She quickly fidgeted with her hair being sure that not one strand had come loose from its meticulous placement and that her makeup was not smudged or running. Once she was sure her long, black hair was not ruined by the cap, she cast her eyes back to the stage, quickly scanning for Stephanie, her best friend.

Both girls made sure their hair and makeup and fingernails and toenails were perfect as each had descended off the stage to join their friends. Though their clothes were hidden by standard issue graduation robes in a dull blue and poorly matched supposed-to-be-gold, but-looks-more-like-yellow-trim, each had shoes that easily cost more than the class's entire robes put together. Cassandra and Stephanie both had the best in wardrobe, there was no other way. Style was of upmost importance, and how one looked in public was critical if you were to get anywhere in the fashion world.

Once Stephanie had descended from the stage, she immediately wove through the hordes of mingling students and joined Cassandra and a few other girls, all squealing and jumping up and down with excitement. Their conversation jumped quickly from joy that they were done with high school to college, to parties on the weekend, while each girl took photos of the group and themselves and posted immediately to update their status.

"Oh my God, Cassy," Stephanie said as she scrolled through social media updates, her perfectly manicured nails gliding over the screen, "Ryan is totally having a party this weekend. We have to go, he's so hot."

"Ryan… but, what about Dave?" Cassandra rebutted.

Stephanie looked torn between the two options.

"I think they're both hot, but you know, Dave's got the whole bad boy band thing going on…" One of the other girls added in and the group laughed.

"Cassandra!" "Cassandra!" A voice called from the crowd and the girls looked over to see her aunt moving towards them.

"Cassy, you totally have to get your aunt and uncle to let you come to the party." Stephanie whispered quickly before her aunt got too near.

She smiled and greeted her aunt. 

"Your mother's on the phone!" She said as she handed Cassandra a phone, with the video chat

already running.

Cassandra and Stephanie had both been accepted into the Fashion School of New York. They would be moving into an apartment in downtown Manhattan in just a few weeks, courtesy of Stephanie's father. They could not wait.

She was certain that their fashions would be the trend setters for the fashion industry someday. She could see tall models wearing their designs and strutting the catwalk in high style. It was destiny. No doubt it was going to be a long hard road, but she was enthusiastic and ready for the grueling fight she would have to endure to get there. There were no doubts in her mind, as she finished up her conversation with her mother and handed the phone back off to her aunt, that all her dreams were certain to come true.

For the last four years, Cassandra and Stephanie had worked hard to mold their future. They were going to be big someday, very big.

They simply could not wait to start into the illustrious fashion school, and they were looking forward to opening their college life with a bang. Already, they were beginning to make their mark into society. One of their dresses was going to be debuted next month in a fashion and makeup show in Central Park.

They had designed and created dresses for many of the girls in their class for the semi-formal dance and the senior prom. Prom dresses weren't totally their style, but it was lots of fun and all of their experimental customers were very happy with their products. They had even offered to redesign the school's graduation attire for their year's class, but were sternly turned down by the administration. No matter, they were not gearing up for a glorious life of making graduation gowns and prom dresses, they were dead set intent on the high time fashion design for the A list.

Stephanie and Cassandra had already discussed on many occasions and in great detail how they would spend their riches from being the top name designers in the country. Of course they would buy a yacht, own a house and stable in the Hamptons, and belong to the best society clubs in the world, there was no question. Stephanie had decided she would own a small armada of limousines and a personal driver for each one. They would all be different color for each day of the week and each mood she was in that day.

Cassandra had decided she would prefer to look of a sports car herself. Perhaps a Lamborghini, but possibly something even more exotic, in bright purple. And with a car that powerful and beautiful, it would be a pity to pay someone else to drive the thing.

Despite all the fantasizing about wealth, neither girl led a shabby existence. About the only thing currently missing in both their lives, was indeed, a car. However, a car in New York City was more a nuisance than a convenience anyway. They were both content currently with riding with their parents or friends, or taking the subway to their destinations.

Stephanie lived in Greenwich Village. She maintained that she lived only three doors down from one of the many homes of Leona Caraccini, the single most famous runway model in the world, but this story had yet to be confirmed in the four years Cassandra had known Stephanie.

The home she lived in was beautiful and surrounded by luxury and wealth, provided solely by her father. He was a famous plastic surgeon. Cassandra had only met Stephanie's father no more than four or five times. He was almost never home. He had opened a practice in Florida and another California and spent most of his time travelling between the two, leaving Stephanie and her mother alone in New York most of the time.

Cassandra's eyes floated to the parents, many of whom were still seated, watching their children mingle with one another, but some were gloating over their embarrassed offspring, snapping pictures and kissing cheeks with teary eyes.

Cassandra was originally from Sacramento. She had moved to New York four years ago to get herself situated, plan for college, and be where things happened.

So, she left her hillside home in Sacramento and moved into her mother's sister and husband's townhome near Midtown. In two weeks, she and Stephanie were going to move into the apartment in overlooking 44th Street, just near 10th Avenue.

The first apartment. It was going to be perfect. It was going to be their first niche into New York society and they were already mentally decorating the place. Of course, it would be of absolutely no good to have a beautifully decorated apartment if no one comes to see it. So, naturally, they were already also secretly, for if their parents were to find out there would be hell, planning a big move in bash the first weekend after they got the place ready to be seen.

Cassandra smiled slightly as she thought just how cool it was going to be to finally host her own big party, instead of going to other people's when their parents were away. This summer was going to be the time of her life, there was no doubt about it, and it was just the beginning.

She felt a nudge into her rid, jabbing her back into reality.

"Sheesh, where were you?"

"What?" Cassandra said as Stephanie removed her elbow from her ribcage and gave her a quizzical look. "What did I miss?"

Stephanie rolled her eyes, "Well? Can you go?"

She said slowly, with a tone that suggested she had already once asked this question and did not appreciate the lack of response.

The other girls giggled softly as Cassandra tried to figure out where it was exactly that she was being invited to go.

"Where, sorry, I was thinking about the apartment. I just can't wait." she smiled, feeling rather foolish for not having been paying attention to her bustle of friends. "Where are we going?"

"Yeah, it's gonna be great!" Stephanie said with a thrill in her voice as she jumped onto her heels slightly.

"Ryan's party!" Stephanie said.

"Wait, I thought we were going to Dave's?" Cassandra sorted out.

Cassandra forgot completely that she had already promised to go with her aunt, uncle and cousin for dinner after graduation, but decided she would be able to get out of the commitment. She was already thinking about the outfit she would wear to the party.

Not long after the graduates began to disperse, Stephanie, who had joined her mother, grabbed a bag from her and excitedly handed it to Cassandra.

"What's this?" Cassandra asked.

"Open it! It's a gift!" Stephanie squealed with so much excitement she could barely contain herself.

"For the apartment, dear," Stephanie's mother added. "It'll look beautiful with the sofa you girls picked out."

Cassandra glanced quizzically at Stephanie and lipped the word 'sofa' with a questioning glance.

Stephanie frowned, "it was supposed to be a surprise. We got it last week, you're gonna love it."

She quickly changed the subject and Cassandra got the impression that she would not be as happy as Stephanie had thought with the sofa. After all, Stephanie was truly a talented, brilliant designer with wonderfully chic tastes. She also had an amazing talent for hair and make up too, but every now and then, she would come up with off the wall bizarre creations that completely clashed with everything else in the space around them.

Cassandra eyed Stephanie suspiciously, wondering if this was going to be another disaster in the making. Still, she had not done any furniture scouting, so at least this was one item off the checklist of things needed. Cassandra was more into in tune to what color rug, drapes, wall paint, and dishes to get as well as the layout of the apartment and the moods of the room. So any sofa, even if it was bizarre, was better than no sofa at all, she supposed.

The content of the bag was a throw pillow with a bold green pattern, but it was pretty.

Stephanie snatched the bag back and headed off with her mom. "See you later tonight, Cassy!"

Cassandra turned back to Stephanie and called out, "See you tomorrow!"

She could already feel the burning stare of her aunt down the back of her neck before she turned to face her.

"What are you doing tomorrow?" She asked quickly and abruptly.

"Just a little get-together with former schoolmates…." Cassandra responded casually, her voice trailing off in a futile attempt to make the invitation sound less like a party and more like a civilized get together at a library. " I wanted to ask you, it is ok?"

Her aunt paused briefly, a flash of dismay flickering across her grimace.

"Well, you know we had plans, Cassandra…."

Cassandra interrupted quickly, shrugging her shoulders and for added effect, flicked her hand dismissively.

"You know, they were just asking, it's not a big deal."

"Oh, Cassandra," her aunt said with a sigh and shook her head softly.

The look in her uncle's eyes seemed to be a little more understanding of Cassandra's desires. Her aunt seemed utterly disappointed that Cassandra would rather party with her friends, but still she nodded her head.

"Fine."

Cassandra's face gleamed, "Thanks!"

Just before eleven the following, Cassandra finally rose from her silky bedsheets and headed for the shower. Eventually, after a nearly ceremonial full hour showering, repainting nails, styling hair, putting on make up and most importantly figuring out what to wear for the day and what to change into for the night, Cassandra made her appearance to the family in the living room.

"Well, it lives," her uncle called out from behind the newspaper he was intently reading. She did not pay attention to a small blip in the corner with a headline about a deadly animal attack in the suburbs.

Cassandra rolled her eyes and smiled slightly.

"Want something to eat?" Her aunt asked as she saw Cassandra reaching into the refrigerator.

"No, I'm good," she said. She took out a drink bottle and shut the door. "I'm going to go over to Stephanie's."

"OK, well have fun. What time are you going to be out to?"

"Umm..." Cassandra swung a night bag over her shoulder, and looked back, "Well, I just thought I'd probably sleep over."

"You did..." her aunt said very flatly. "Just call us OK?"

Cassandra smiled.

"Yeah, OK. Is everything ok?" She asked before she turned to leave, noticing that both her aunt and uncle's attention had turned completely the news broadcast.

"Of course," they both answered quietly answered.

"Just watch yourself," her uncle added.

Cassandra shrugged and turned out the door.

She found the train station packed as usual for a Saturday afternoon, full of passengers trying to navigate the Big Apple.

The City was always so busy and the commuter modalities to get around never suffered from a passenger lull. There was no difference from a weekday to a weekend when it came to travelling around Manhattan. Cassandra walked down the block from the subway stop to the usual meeting place, a small latte shop that was always full. Stephanie was on the side walk patio, sipping from an icy cup of coffee. Cassandra quickly joined her.

"Hey," she said as she sat on a stool next to Stephanie and was handed a cup of her own from Stephanie. "Thanks."

Stephanie barely said hello before jumping into describing what she was going to do and wear and hope to accomplish at the party that night.

While she described her outfit and her desires in great detail, Cassandra did a quick, habitual scan of the people in the coffee shop. It was a great little place, trendy, social, and always packed with people from every walk of life, perfect for people viewing, which always provided inspiration for fashion.

Today, there were slightly less business suits strutting around. After all, it was Saturday. A fine group of chic ladies sat at a back table laughing and carrying on. They were dressed sharply, but their personal bags at their feet left a lot to be desired to create a matched, flowing look to their outfits, Cassandra thought. There were a few casually dressed obvious tourists sitting on the patio gawking at the swarms of people passing by. Mostly everyone seemed to be hurriedly getting through their lattes and croissants while quickly skimming through newspapers as usual. It did not matter what the day of the week it was, everyone was always in a hurry.

Cassandra turned back to Stephanie, who was smiling and almost blushing as she talked about the party. The girls talked and giggled for a few minutes more, then stood and headed off to a nearby shop that Stephanie had heard was carrying the prettiest dinner plates for the new apartment.

A few blocks later they found themselves debating whether the transparent dark blue dishware, or the green and white checkerboard dishware was going to look better with the deep marbled gray countertops in the kitchenette. The fact that the apartment had been selected and leased by Stephanie's father and that neither girl had even seen the place did not really matter. It was in Manhattan, on a top floor, and it did not get any better than that.

"You know," Cassandra said, holding the deep blue dish sample, "it would be a lot easier to decide if I knew what the sofa was going to look like."

Stephanie smiled and said, "Well, let's just say it would look alright with either one, but would probably look nicer with the green in these dishes," as she pointed to green and white plates.

Cassandra frowned. That wasn't answer she was looking for. She just wanted to know what Stephanie had come up with for a sofa. Of course, since everything had to match, decorating the apartment was getting difficult without knowing what the main piece of living room furniture looked like, let alone what the apartment room layout was like. They ended up leaving the store with some decorative oil bottles, figuring it was hard to go wrong with those, and continued on their way to meet a few more friends as they got out of work before they all headed to the party.

Not long after dusk descended upon greater Manhattan, Cassandra and Stephanie and just over twenty others had piled into David Tessler's father's apartment. The party started sometime around eight, though when Cassandra and the others had arrived a little before eight o'clock, there was already a dozen people in the apartment. Cassandra briefly wondered if their apartment would be anywhere close in stature to the place.

"What does David's dad do?" She whispered to Stephanie as they walked in through the massive oak double doors, across the elaborate tile floor, passed the marble end tables, under a beautiful crystal chandelier, around a rather hideous but obviously expensive deep mahogany leather sofa and into the wide open space of the living area.

Stephanie shrugged, "I dunno."

It wasn't important anyway, but the apartment was fabulous. The trendy kitchen and bar were a gathering point for most of the people in the place. Bottles and cans and cups and glasses were scattered over the white countertops, offering a wide selection for recently graduated ex high-schoolers to relax with. On the other side of the large living area drums were set up, and a guitar lay next to them, along with three microphones. It didn't take long for a flurry of begging girls to get the band playing. Within a few minutes happy ex-students were celebrating their freedoms and adult hood and dancing and drinking the hours away.

During breaks between songs Stephanie could be found cuddled on an oversized seat that matched the large leather sofa, with her arms around David. She had one arm wrapped around his waist and Cassandra wasn't quite sure where her other arm was. David was trying to play the cool guy and kept one hand a little more than a little above Stephanie's knee, but at the same time he never quite made eye contact with her. Cassandra moved over to Stephanie with an amused smirk on her face. Stephanie moved her starry eyes off David and winked at Cassandra as she approached.

David, by rank according to about ninety percent of the girls in the entire school, was actually the number three most eligible bachelor. He had reddish blonde hair and was macho guy. He worked out nearly all the time when he wasn't strumming his guitar, and felt no modesty when it came to showing off his ever growing biceps and pectorals. Though he was cute, macho, and currently available, he was overshadowed on the popularity, and hotness, ladder by two of his band mates. And below him came the other two of his band mates, making the boy band the hottest going from their old high school.

Just as Cassandra and Stephanie were certain they would hit the big time with their fashions, David, Josh, Shawn, Peter, and Kyle, otherwise referred to as the Whizzkids, were just as certain they would be _the_ hot band someday. Naturally, every girl in school fawned and fought over their affections, all vying to be their girlfriends when the big labels finally called upon the group.

As Cassandra glanced around the room, it seemed as though each one of the Whizzkids would find themselves a girlfriend, at least for that night. She could help but feel a little disappointed each time she managed to catch a glimpse of Kyle whenever he wasn't behind his drums. He was number one on the most eligible bachelor list, and with his looks, she had a hard time figuring why he was even on the list at all. She caught herself on more than several occasions smiling in his direction despite the fact that most of the girls in the apartment were trying to woo him. Nearly every time she casually glanced towards him, he had a different girl wrapping her arm around him.

Kyle seemed to be forcibly trying not to pay too much attention to Cassandra, she thought. They had always had this sort of forced, hard-to-get-type of semi-friendship relationship throughout the last two years of high school since they had first got introduced. From time to time Kyle seemed truly interested in her, and she was truly interested in him. However, when too many people were around, or he felt he was being looked upon by another boy, or other girls, the 'Joe Cool' personae would emerge and Kyle would almost immediately break eye contact, spot some guy, whether he knew him or not, Cassandra was never sure, and give a deep throaty "Yo" to the passerby to change the aura around him.

Admitting you like a girl, when you're a Whizzkid, wasn't a very cool thing to do, especially in a place like the school courtyard, or out in the hallways. Cassandra had first played the game well, just like every other girl in school did with every member of the band. The more the male ego bursted out, the more the girls desired them. It was like a race, and who ever ended up with any one of the band members, to some girls it didn't matter which one, was the winner. She ran that race for about three months. Then after that, her studies, her designing, her plans for her future, and other such things starting to take command of her life and she, unlike Stephanie found herself unable to balance boy chasing and fashion design on top of making good grades. None of the Whizzkids seemed to care about that, either. They all had good looks and bad grades in common, which made them just that much cooler.

As Cassandra glanced from time to time at Kyle she felt very funny about the whole thing. Now that she was an adult, a graduated, free adult, the whole thing seemed sort of juvenile. None of the girls clinging to Kyle were really interested in anything but stepping up a notch on the popularity scale, which was also directly linked to the jealousy ladder.

Well, perhaps they were interested in a bit more than that tonight, but Cassandra put that thought out of her mind and headed off to chat with a group of girls, although she still caught herself glancing at Kyle. She was barely listening to any of the music they were playing.

Stephanie mingled close to the band, careful not to let David get out of her sight, like a lioness watching a gazelle. Throughout most of the evening she maintained herself in a dangerously close proximity to David. Cassandra would from time to time join Stephanie, and with David at her side, Kyle often lurked not too far off. At least four very awkward moments had already popped up throughout the evening. An uncomfortable greeting and a quick get away from both Cassandra and Kyle was the result. At the last encounter of this sort, Cassandra earned herself a vicious glare from the newest girl to Velcro herself to Kyle's side. Cassandra returned the glare without thinking, then, blushing feverishly she quickly turned and escaped from the spot. Stephanie found her on the other side of the apartment sitting in a quiet corner trying to look interested the bottle she was holding.

"You OK, Cassy?" she asked.

Cassandra smirked, looking rather disappointed with herself, but still nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Stephanie shrugged, "Why don't you just talk to him? Give it a try, at least!"

She did not seem inspired.

"Really, Cassy, you're both out of high school now, he's too chicken to make a move, but I know for a _fact_ that he really, really likes you."

Cassandra raised her head, her eyes suddenly looked much livelier.

"Just say 'hi'." Stephanie said as she prodded her shoulder.

Smiling, Cassandra rose. "I really want him to say hi first."

"Well, I'm gonna go tell him for you then," Stephanie started off without hesitation.

Incredibly embarrassed Cassandra quickly grabbed her friend back, "No, no, no, Steph don't" she whined. "I will talk to him. I will, really, I just want to catch him …alone," She said nodding as she glanced over towards him behind the drums again.

"Well, that' s not gonna' happen tonight, so just do it anyway, OK. You'll be so much happier I promise."

They rejoined the main group of girls in the kitchen and Cassandra's mind stewed ways of approaching Kyle. She was feeling rather frustrated with herself. Such a simple thing should not be so difficult. It was crazy. Just walk over and say 'hi' and don't let the eye contact break. Kyle always seemed uncomfortable around her, though. Cassandra was getting bored with the 'macho-tude' that would almost always kick in whenever she was near. She always felt that it was a cover to hide his true feelings, but sooner or later she really was hoping that the cover would slip off.

She did noticed Stephanie slip off with David after the next song ended. Cassandra noticed Kyle alone and he walked towards her direction. She eyed the kitchen like she was looking for a good place to hide. Kyle came up to the other side of the bar, reached for a bottle quite deliberately directly in front of Cassandra and, for what felt like the first time in months, finally said more than one word to her before running off.

"Hey, havin' fun?"

"Oh yeah," she said, almost too shocked to speak.

Kyle nodded coolly. "Want a drink?"

"Sure,"

He popped the top on the bottle in his hands and handed it to her.

"Thanks."

She took a sip as she silently chastised herself for not coming up with anything more interesting to say.

Reaching into her brain for anything she could think of, the best thing she could think of was, "Was that song you guys just played new? I haven't heard it before I don't think."

Kyle nodded.

"Yeah, it was," he seemed somewhat surprised that Cassandra recognized the new song. He seriously doubted that anyone else would have picked up on that.

Cassandra was equally surprised. She had no idea that the song was actually new. Honestly, a lot of their slightly-softer-than-hard-rock sounded very, very similar. Although, in retrospect, that last song was a lot milder than most of the tunes the band had been playing over the last three and half hours.

"Which one of you wrote it," she asked in a tone that sounded like she was expecting him to say he wrote the music.

"Uhhh... Peter did."

"Oh...Cool." Cassandra tried again to find a topic to talk about.

There was a very thick, although invisible, slab of ice separating the pair over the bar. She was hell bent on taking the opportunity to break it and was cursing herself for not being to find the words to break it with.

"Well, umm.." was all she could come up to blurt out.

She rolled her eyes at herself in her mind and thumped her forehead with her hand as well, fortunately, she got off the hook. Kyle took command of the ice breaking ceremony now.

"So, what are your plans for college?"

He probably knew it already from Stephanie through David, but at least it was conversation and Kyle played the role of remotely interested as she told him of their enrollment into the Fashion Institute as well as the apartment in Manhattan.

"Cool, I'd love to come over when you're moved in." He said.

"Yeah," she jumped onto that band wagon eagerly. "Well, we're already planning a party after it's all decorated and all." She smiled, "but you can come over before that. I mean, that would be really cool."

"Yeah."

Again a silence fell. Cassandra took her turn to fill in the dead air, trying desperately to find something to say to him other than 'God you're cute.'

"So, what about you? College?"

Kyle smirked, "Nah," he shook his head.

The 'cool-dude-tude' came back on almost instantly as though he was trying to defend himself regarding his choice to not pursue higher education.

"This is New York, you know. Me and the guys, we're all gonna try to go label. We're gonna go for the big time. We just have a few kinks to work out."

"Like what?" Cassandra asked, trying to keep the conversation engaged and smooth out his defensive start.

"Well, Pete's been writing this soft-crap a lot more lately and Shawn likes it, but the rest of us... we just don't think it's what the band's about."

Cassandra dared not interject that she preferred the "soft-crap". It wasn't important anyway.

"Oh well, it sounded good, I mean, you know, it's not all that bad."

She nearly subconsciously kicked herself. One part of her brain tried to avoid saying that, and yet her mouth did it anyway. Kyle shrugged.

"I guess so, I mean, it's O.K. I guess."

Just then David, unwinding himself from Stephanie, called Kyle back to the band area for another round of music. Part of Cassandra was grateful that he had a distraction to separate him from her and another part of her was worried that she wouldn't get him back after they were done playing. About halfway through the song the telephone rang but the few people that heard it dared not answer. This was David's house it was up to him to answer the phone and he was busy bringing his guitar to life. Besides, who would be calling at nearly midnight.

Several more times the phone rang during the next set of songs, but the music was still so loud it drowned out the ringing except for those standing right next to it. Finally someone, laughing loudly, picked up the receiver.

"Hello?"

She barely spoke the words when the voice on the other end came through so loudly it made mostly everyone in the kitchen stop for a moment to listen to the very angry voice on the other end.

Just then a knock on the door echoed as the last song was quieting down.

David's eyes grew wide with a look of fear and humiliation as he placed his guitar on the ground and made for the door. His former classmates glanced from him to the door, and some to the telephone with the still screaming neighbor blaring through and back again. Several people cracked smiles, finding the situation very amusing. David's heart started pumping as he reached for the doorknob, fearing not only who was on the other side, but also that his cool-factor had just diminished tremendously. He glanced through the peep hole and hung his head.

"Damn," he whispered loud enough that those near him could hear.

Hesitantly, he opened the door just enough to pop his through and greet a very stern looking building manager, who instantly started very loudly, lecturing the boy on the time of night and the decibels of his music. Right around the time the grizzly man outside was shouting something about telling his parents, David slunk the rest of his body through the small opening in the door and shut it behind him so the people inside would hopefully not hear anymore. Several people crept forward, smiling slightly, and put their ears closer to the door.

"What are they saying?" Someone in the room asked.

"Hmmm..." one boy started, still listening. "He's threatening to call the police. He figures we're all drinking in here."

Another mostly-drunk teen bursted out, "Drinking? What's that he said! Are we drinking?"

Several people laughed and a few of the boys around him started cackling loudly.

Stephanie and Cassandra exchanged disappointed glances. David came back into the room and the atmosphere had changed drastically.

"Well, I think the party's over," Cassandra whispered.

Stephanie shrugged and smiled, "Well, the music is anyway, but this place has four bedrooms!"

Cassandra smiled and shook her head at her tipsy friend. David barely spoke as he hovered over the band area and started unplugging the equipment. A few people started teasing him and he look so embarrassed Cassandra thought he looked as though he might cry. Stephanie immediately moved over to him to console him.

Several people started to make for the door over the next few minutes, while others splayed onto the furniture or floor. Cassandra found her night bag in a small closet near the entrance and turned around.

"Are you leaving?"

She hadn't noticed Kyle come up right behind her.

Startled she made intense eye contact with her backpack. "No, I was...I was gonna stay, just need some things."

"Cool," Kyle smiled. "Come on, let me show you the place," he invited.

She smiled and headed through the living room and towards the bedrooms with Kyle. They walked down a short hallway to one of the unoccupied bedrooms and Kyle shut the door behind them. Cassandra immediately felt her nerves blast through the ceiling as she turned and tried to look casual and cool. She glanced around the room and then eyed the door.

"You know, I really just needed to use the bathroom…" her voice trailed off and Kyle came closer, putting his arms around her without hesitation.

He pressed his lips to hers and Cassandra shut her eyes. She had always dreamed of the first kiss with Kyle. She imagined sparks; the proverbial "fireworks". He smelled like beer and did not seem to feel her braced up resistance in her body as he slid his hands down over her butt.

She pulled back, whispering defensively. "Kyle…."

"What? Just relax, Cassy. It's cool."

She shook her head and pulled backwards, but he grabbed her tighter and before she knew it, they were toppling backwards onto the bed. Kyles hand ran up her thigh and under her skirt.

"No, seriously Kyle," she said she bent her knee up between them and pressed her patella into his chest, while pushing his hand away.

Kyle laughed softly. "You've been playing hard to get for years, Cassy. Don't do it again tonight."

She pulled back more, harder, and forced him back. "I'm not, I just…."

She paused, at a loss for words and as voices filled the hallway outside along with the sounds of stomping footsteps, they both glanced at the door. Cassandra used the moment to slide away from him and hop off the other side of the bed.

Kyle glared at her and quickly caught up with her at the foot of the bed, but she resisted firmly.

"No, Kyle. I don't want this. I'm not ready."

"You're…." he whispered with a smirk "tsk" sound in his voice. "You're not ready? It's just a kiss, Cassy."

"That was not a kiss!" She snapped.

"What, come on, you're not a virgin, are you?"

Cassandra fell silent and glared at him. She shot for the door and whipped it open before he could stop her.

"Cassy, there you are!" Stephanie, who clearly noticed the frazzled look on her face as Kyle appeared in the doorway behind her, trying to look cool and collected, lunged forward and grabbed her arm, yanking her away into another bedroom full of girls.

"What happened?"

Cassandra shook her head and muttered, "Nothing. Nothing happened. He's an ass."

Stephanie smiled and giggled, and Cassandra, feeling relieved, soon found herself laughing it off, too.

When the mid-morning rolled around and Cassandra awoke, she zipped into one of the bathrooms the moment one became available and started in on her ritual process of showering and styling and adding make up tones to her face. She locked the door to keep her privacy. She did not wish to be seen in yesterday's clothes and with ruffled hair. Meanwhile, in the living room, hung over teens were helping themselves to food or complaining that there wasn't enough to eat.

"Man, is all that pizza gone?" Someone in their underwear said as he walked into the kitchen. David looked around quickly, "Yeah, I think so," he said as he went back to holding Stephanie, who was already dressed to perfection.

Kyle walked out looking somehow less cute than Cassandra remembered him to ever be. Another girl, wearing his shirt, walked out behind him.

"Hey Dude," David said to him with a nod. "S'up?"

"Hey," Kyle acknowledged everyone and gave a sultry glance to the girl hanging off him.

"I'm sorry I need to get going," Cassandra whispered to Stephanie, quickly hopping up from the sofa.

Stephanie ticked her lips and glared at her.

"Sorry, my aunt will kill me. It's almost noon. I'm supposed to spend the day with them."

Cassandra dismissed herself from the awkward moment and quickly gathered her things and

headed out. Although she didn't have to, Stephanie joined her and headed home, too.


	3. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER TWO**

Private Lewis Sans monitored the radar screen at night. Although an important duty, it was not a terribly invigorating task, but he did his duties, slightly disappointed that nothing interesting ever happened on his watch. So, he spent most of the night chatting with the other officers in the room when their superiors were out of earshot.

Sergeant Tyler Johnson and Privates Davis Lyle and Melinda Coolbaugh all seemed just about as bored as he was. With the lack of anything exciting on radar, the conversation had quickly turned into a bragging episode by Johnson about how the hot date he had last night was. Everyone had their attention turned to what he had to say.

"She was crazy… but man did she know how to _dance_ ," Johnson said, with a dreamy smile on his face.

Lyle and Sans laughed and teased.

"Yeah, how much did she cost?"

"One bill? Two bills? Ten an hour?"

Johnson smirked, "Shut up you two."

They continued to laugh.

"I think you're drooling, Ty," Coolbaugh shot out.

"Yea, well… you should have _seen_ her. You'd be drooling, too, you know." Johnson defended.

"Just _what_ is that supposed to mean?" Coolbaugh said sharply as she stood up and grabbed her

swinging hips. "I've got moves, too!"

The three men in the room smiled widely and chirped out some catcalls. They quickly silenced when they

noticed someone walking by the monitoring room. His sharp eyes peered in through the window, glaring at the young officers with a silent warning. They exchanged glances with smirks and eyebrows raised, but lowered their eyes back to the monitors without another word.

Silently, Sans wondered just how much of this story was being fabricated on the spot and how

much of it actually had taken place. The story had been believable at first, however, the tale had gone from Tyler insisting that he and his date, Jennifer, after dinner and a nightclub party, had ended up somehow in a large brawl, and then several of Jennifer's friends and a hot tub had amazingly found their way into the night's adventures. Pretty impressive, since he still managed to be in his barracks, and up at the crack of dawn this morning.

"You're so full of it," Davis Lyle retorted when the coast was clear.

"No, I'm serious," Johnson defended with a smile that almost gave away the fact that he had to be

lying. "I promised 'em all I'd give 'em a tour of the base sometime."

"Girls night out on base, right Ty?" Sans suggested and he and Lyle exchanged sarcastic glances. "Hope you saved one for me."

"Yea, me too, sounds like there was enough of 'em," Lyle laughed.

"Don't believe me," Johnson pouted, "but I tell ya… they _all_ had at least to be D size."

Sans and Lyle burst out laughing and Johnson smiled, shaking his head, mocking with his hand the size of his date's chest.

"Don't you guys have anything better to talk about?" Melinda moaned.

"No." Private Lyle said promptly.

"Yea, we're guys," Sans added in, smiling.

Melinda rolled her eyes and spun around in her seat, glancing down at the radar screen again to be

sure all was well.

"What do girls all talk about when they're together?" Johnson called over to her. "Nails, clothes, hair…"

Lyle mocked tapping a few buttons on the computer console in front of him, then looked down at

his stretched out fingers and lifted his voice an octave higher.

"I need a pedicure," he teased.

"That's manicure, you idiot," Sans laughed.

"What?" Lyle said.

"Fingers get manicures. Toes get pedicures," Johnson informed him.

"Looks like you boys do a fine enough job talking about nails on your own," Melinda teased

them. "Must have learned all that from your date last night," she laughed.

Sans and Lyle twisted around in their seats again, glancing at the monitors, or just about anywhere else to avoid eye contact with Coolbaugh at the moment. She smirked again and stared at Johnson victoriously.

"Last night, us real girls talked about trucks and guns. So I guess I'll just leave the finer details of life to you boys," she added.

"Ha, ha." Tyler sassed back.

Melinda grinned widely and drifted back to her computer console. A little beeping noise in the room caught her attention and all eyes turned towards Sans' monitor station as he spun around in his chair.

"What is it, Lewis?" Melinda called out.

"A blip," Sans said uncertainly. "Low, and _hot_."

Johnson stood up and strode over to the monitoring screen. "And fast," he pointed out.

"Jesus, what the hell was that?" Sans said as his eyes fixed on the monitor.

The radar flared to life in an instant. Something was definitely out there, overhead, and moving

damned fast.

"A plane?" Coolbaugh said as she trotted over to stare down at the screen over Sans'

shoulder.

"It's moving too fast," Sans said as he scrambled to check current flight paths for all local air

traffic. "Nothing on this flight path anyway."

"It's moving right through Virginia." Lyle stated.

"Get the Major in here, now," Johnson ordered and Lyle quickly headed off for the door.

"Looks like it's going towards D.C… no wait… Charlestown now." Coolbaugh said, following

the blip on the screen.

"Something must be crashing. Maybe something's got a blown engine… that's why it's so hot."

Johnson said.

The radar was showing a mass, big enough to easily be an airplane but just not quite the right size

for anything they could immediately think of. Whatever it was it seemed to be in a hurry to get to West Virginia. The officers watched the monitor without a breath. Terrorists were of course the top fear. It had been a long time since a terror attack, and although the three of them could not fathom what could be worth crashing into in Charlestown at zero two hundred hours, the tension caused by the thought of a new terror war on America could be felt in the room.

"It _can't be crashing_ ," Sans whispered. "It just stopped."

"Stopped?" Lyle and Coolbaugh echoed nearly simultaneously.

"Near Charlestown…. just outside of it," he nodded.

Johnson returned to the monitor as the little white spectacle moved off again.

"What in the hell? Now it's moving off…out of our sensor range." Sans stated.

Just then, the door to the monitoring room opened and the Major entered. "What have you got

people?" he barked instantly.

"Unknown bogie, Sir. Came into scan range fast, low and hot." Sans began as he pressed up a

button to replay what the machines had recorded.

"Flew through the grid stopped near Charlestown, then took off again out of scan zone."

The Major watched the screen for a moment and replayed the image twice before asking the question that no

one had the answer to.

"What in the hell was that?"

The officers remained quiet and the Major headed to the phone and called for more officers to come

into the room. He returned to the monitors, quickly noting them for anything else unusual then watched the replay one more time. In a moment more officers entered and watched the screen over and over again.

They backed up and stood just away from Sans, but he could overhear their whispering.

Whatever this thing was, no one exactly knew, but it was certainly a concerning issue. Either something _had_ crashed and the apparent stopping and resuming course was some kind of strange glitch in the systems, or something else had happened.

It had to be terrorists. Sans watched one officer rush out of the monitor room and head into the

next room, pick up a telephone and speak into the receiver after being ordered by the Major to get on the phone and find out if anyone else had reported anything unusual. The officer was gone a few minutes before returning, looking just as confused as he did before he made the calls.

"Sir, it was a bogie." The officer said. "It showed up on radar, but no one _saw_ anything."

"Christ," the Major said. "Get me the Defense Secretary and get people out to the stop site now."

"Isn't that a little rushed, Sir? I mean, we don't know what…" another officer started. The glare

he received from the Major made him stop mid-sentence.

"That's right, Acosta. We don't know what it is. Could have been an airplane. Could have

been terrorists. What the hell did they do? Where did they come from, and where are they going?" The Major rambled off then stepped out of the room.

The situation on the base turned intense as officers scrambled to figure out what had just been monitored. All the four lower ranked officers in the room could do was keep their eyes on their screens and their ears perked towards the overlapping conversations in the room while they continued to monitor for anything else.

The anxiety in the room was almost tangible. Sans could feel his own adrenaline pumping through his veins. There had been lots and lots of nothing during his five month tenure, but this was really _something_. Questions floated around the room from officer to officer. Each was wondering, if it had been terrorists, what did they do, where did they go, and where did they come from.

After the quick talk about terrorists and the possibility that they dropped a bomb or managed to

pull some sort of aerial attack, crash, and run, the group of young officers felt queasy and ill but also oddly excited and revved up at the same time.

Whatever did happen, there was a very strong possibility that these four friends would not see

the outcome, but they could at least hear of it through other people on the base that they knew, whose duties would allow them access to such information. For now, all they could do was watch their monitors for anything else until their duty shifts ended. They sat in silence for a few moments more. Tyler Johnson glanced over his shoulder to the next station where he saw Sans bring the radar recording back up on the monitor. Both men watched the images and gulped and the blip soared off the screen.

"It doesn't mean it was terrorists," Johnson stated.

"What else could it have been, Tyler?" Sans retorted quietly.

"Well, maybe it was just a glitch, you know." Johnson shrugged, trying to get a cool tone back

in his voice and act like he was longer worried about the blip on the screen.

"Maybe it was aliens," Coolbaugh added for a laugh.

The ice in the room began to break slightly, but as their duty shift approached the end, the four

officers focused more intently on the monitors watching for anything else.

As the morning sun was cracking through the skies, the four officers coming on duty on Saturday June thirteenth came into the monitoring room and headed towards their stations. Sans and Coolbaugh briefly conversed with some of the replacement shift to see if they knew anything. The two officers they spoke with shrugged. They, in fact, didn't even know about the radar blip at all.

"Well, maybe we'll hear something later."

Coolbaugh looked very disappointed that there was no update. Sans was simply glad. Any update probably wouldn't have been a good one, and no news could indicate that the blip was nothing at all, just a glitch in the system, perhaps.

The officers strode across the base to have some breakfast and chatted coolly as they walked. They barely reached the cafeteria when the west gates, just beyond the building opened to allow a small fleet of military vehicles and ambulances through. The group watched as several doctors and nurses from the infirmary ran out to greet the ambulances as they backed up to the double doors.

Sans could feel his adrenaline jump up again. Tension fell over the small group of officers that had now gathered just outside the eating hall to watch stretcher after stretcher and stretcher get lifted out the ambulances and rushed into the infirmary building. The sheets that covered each of the patients were pulled up over their heads, as paramedics might do cover a cadaver, but neither Louis nor any of his friends had ever seen such haste, almost indeed a panic, over a dead body.

"What is going on?" Sans asked in a shocked whisper.

They all stared wide eyed, but none of their questions got answered from what they could see of the rushing medical staff. The bodies of the victims were too well covered to even see their faces, let alone any injuries. The group was silently certain of one thing though, as the double doors into the infirmary unit slammed shut, the total of seven patients on the stretchers, must have been some of the compliment sent to investigate the blip on the monitor.

It had been a little over two and half hours since Sans saw the blip on the monitor. That left plenty of time to get a soldier compliment to the designated area just outside of Charlestown and get brought back to base. Once the rushing medical staff and commanding officers had all headed into the infirmary and disappeared behind cinder block walls and steel doors, the people outside were left confused and wondering. The small crowed returned to their original destinations, quietly mulling over what they had just witnessed.

Curiosity and anxiety were running equally as high. Sans could feel it as he unenthusiastically watched a small pile of morning rations get dumped onto his serving tray. He ate more out of well trained habit than any hunger he may have had. He barely even noticed what he was eating, instead, his eyes kept scanning the room, and all too often he would glance or sometimes stare out the row of windows at the other end of the great room. There was only one set of windows in the cafeteria, and they did not face the direction of the infirmary, but still, he was certain he could see people frantically running back and forth outside.

The mess hall was apprehensively quiet as Sans and his friends ate a very quick meal and headed back out in less than fifteen minutes. Exhausted from an overnight shift, they had all planned to return to their barracks for some much needed rest, but sleeping at a time like this seemed a near impossibility. So, the group of officers milled around outside, staying within visual range of the infirmary just to see what they could see. They were careful to play the role of unconcerned off duty officers out of fear of reprimand, or worse, simply being sent off for lurking too close the infirmary.

Not that all their mingling helped any. The solid walls of the medical unit left everything to the imagination. They saw and heard nothing as two hours passed. No one else entered or left the building and there was no one making haste around the base. What ever had happened was more than likely over.

The infirmary was going to keep its secret. At least for now. So, they headed off for some rest. Sans returned to his barrack unit with the same questions on his mind as he imagined everyone else had on theirs. He laid on his cot but found himself unable to even shut his eyes. Eventually, though he was not aware of when, he did finally find some sleep, but the distant sound of a helicopter landing stirred him and he shot up as though a gun had fired.

After a moment to clear his eyes, he glanced out the window, noticing the bright red LED's on the clock next to him displaying that it was now just after noon. He watched a helicopter power down, just barely within site on the landing zone. He could see several people making their way quickly passed the landing pad, but he did not recognize them. Curious to know if this landing had anything to do with the events from the overnight, he headed out to the main base.

There was much more activity now, but not more than usual for this time of day. Officers were coming and going, some were jogging the fields, no one seemed concerned or panicked. It was a typical afternoon on the base, nothing more nothing less. Except for the helicopter.

Sans eyed it wonderingly, then turned his head to the far west end of the base and stared at the infirmary. Its deep gray cinder block exterior seemed even deeper. The building seemed menacing for some reason, like it was harboring the atom bomb or some other horrible secret. He saw Melinda Coolbaugh coming towards him from the direction of the infirmary complex. She looked wide eyed and anxious.

"I don't know much, I'll tell ya that right now." She said in her Minnesota accent as Sans opened his mouth.

"Well, what is it that you don't know?" He asked quickly as they were joined by Davis Lyle and Tyler Johnson.

"I've got a friend who has medical duties, you know, Katrina." She paused.

Sans nodded hurriedly, "Yeah, and... what?"

Coolbaugh shook her head quickly, "Well, she told me that she is not even allowed in the infirmary. It's been closed to all non-essential personal."

"Well, did she at least see anything?"

Coolbaugh shook her head. "She said she didn't see anything, but she heard something about getting one of the people prepped for surgery."

"Does she know who the people were?" Johnson asked.

"Or what happened at the site?" Lyle continued the interrogation.

"Look, she doesn't know. I don't know. Sorry. That's all I know. They've closed the infirmary to all non essentials. That's it."

"Well, why would they do that?" Lyle wondered aloud.

Sans shook his head slowly. "Something secret must have gone down."

"Either that or their worried about contagion," Johnson added.

"No," Coolbaugh frowned, "Katrina didn't say the place went bio-hazard."

"You know, suddenly," Johnson said as he put his hand on his head, "I'm not feeling so well. I have a headache, I think I need to go to the infirmary."

"Don't do it," Melinda warned. "Don't even try it."

Sans agreed, "Besides you're not going to see anything if they won't even let medical personnel in there!"

Johnson's headache quickly absolved. "Fine, well, I'm going to at least try to figure out who was sent out. Somebody has to know. See ya later."

He walked off towards another group of men that he knew and quickly jumped into their conversation. Melinda, Louis, and Davis all stared at another for a moment.

"It's probably nothing, you know, just some high ranked over reaction." Davis said with a grimace.

"Yeah, maybe." Melinda added.

"I dunno guys, it just doesn't feel right, you know. Something's not right."

The remainder of the afternoon passed by in a haze. Sans jogged, Coolbaugh returned to her barracks, and Lyle wasn't seen again until dinner mess, while Johnson practically interrogated the entire male population on the base to find out anything. They all met again at a table in the mess hall, which was brimming with more whispered gibbering than it was in the early hours of the morning. By now, nearly eighteen hours since 'the blip', the entire base had heard about the events, and everyone was talking. All eyes seemed to be panning the large room, as though many were looking for who wasn't there, trying to figure out who was in the infirmary.

"Well, did you find anything out?" Coolbaugh directly asked of Tyler as she seated herself next to him.

He shrugged, but stayed silent.

"Well, come on then, what did you find out?" Davis prompted.

"Somebody I talked to said his friend's barrack-mate didn't ever show back up. Patrick Morris."

"Well, maybe he was one of the seven." Sans said.

"Or maybe he just went on leave. I don't know." Johnson said, obviously disappointed that he didn't find out anything more solid.

By the end of dinner mess, the atmosphere amongst the officers had changed dramatically. Many heads grouped together and within an hour, a list of ten names was created on a napkin. The list was that of people not dining with the rest of their comrades that evening. Others were able to vouch for at least two of the names as being on leave. That left eight more, but it did not mean that any of those names were the people in the infirmary right now. It left everyone even more curious and concerned as the bulk of the group returned to their barracks by the late evening. All through out the night the barracks seemed to be filled with the murmuring voices of curious soldiers. But no answers were given back to the questioning voices.

Dr. Carlos Murray was hustling about his rounds, checking in on his patients. The emergency room seemed to always be bustling like a madhouse at any given moment, but weekends were particularly challenging. While most people were out enjoying themselves on the weekends, the medical world usually found that work from Friday evening through Monday morning was ten times harder. It seemed everyone with a weekend off would always find one way or another to hurt themselves and end up in the emergency room. To Dr. Murray and his staff, it felt like half of Philadelphia was in the Mercy Hospital's emergency room that morning.

He checked in with an elderly Mrs. Peterson in exam room one. She had been taken ill last night, and her granddaughter had finally convinced her to visit the hospital. They seemed to have wanted to avoid a large crowd and long wait, so they though that six a.m. on a Saturday would be a good time, if there were such a thing as a good time, to go to the hospital. At any rate, it was a good thing they did come in, Dr. Murray thought as he quickly marked off directions for his nurses to admit the old woman that she came when she did. It looked like the onset of kidney failure.

When he finished in exam room one, he hopped over to three, skipping right over two because the police were not done taking a statement from the battered woman in the room. In exam room three, Dr. Murray found his patient to be a young boy that had been hit in the eye with a baseball during a fight with his older brother early in the morning. He looked into the worried eyes of the boy's mother and evaluated the young man. He was soon able to put her and the youngster at ease when he informed them both that his eye was uninjured, and some ice therapy would be all that was needed.

"It will stop hurting soon. But you will have a black eye for a while."

He worked non-stop for over four hours straight, hopping from room to room and seeing everything from very simple problems that could have easily been handled by their usual doctors on Monday morning, to the worst injury in the emergency room this morning, a fractured leg. A carpenter doing some early morning work before it got too hot had slipped off the roof he was building and came down hard into the lawn below.

Murray had been a doctor for seven years now. Over the time of his service to the medical profession, he had seen plenty of tragedy, from newborn infants dying to elderly people spending their last few days, weeks, or months suffering from illness and dying slowly as their families broke down in tears watching them fade away. He had wished that he could save them all. Of course, death was a natural part of existence. It was inevitable. Sometimes, the only thing that any good doctor could hope to do was to keep their patients from facing death in pain and agony.

There was a certain amount of acquired desensitization regarding death, of course. There was always that undefined level of separation from the patients a doctor cared for. It would be impossible to treat patients properly otherwise. It would be impossible to work in such a situation, taking care of injuries and illnesses of every extreme, without lulling into a sad state of depression. Murray had learned to maintain that separation a long time ago. Not everyone was savable, he learned.

Murray called for a nurse to help him stabilize the man's leg. There was no displacement or shattered bone, but he definitely needed surgery. He would be fine after a good long haul of time off and immobility. Although, when informed of this particular treatment plan, the man became very angry. Murray had seen this reaction before a hundred times. He realized how hard it was for someone to learn that they can not work for a long while, when their livelihood depended on it.

But all too often upon giving this sort of information to his patients, Murray was treated as though he had conspired against the powers that be to maliciously keep his patients from working. Once the man was finished berating Murray for not understanding that he had to work, the nurse was able to help him set his leg and move him to pre-op waiting.

Afterward, he headed back to room two to check on the woman that had come in earlier. Police were still in there and he could hear the young woman crying. He glanced around and saw three more over whelmed doctors pacing quickly up the corridor. A nurse yelled out about another emergency coming in, and the double doors flung open as frantic and confused looking paramedics wheeled in a stretcher, and another stretcher, and another, and another.

There must have been an accident or fire, he thought as he watched the stretchers wheel down the hall. All of the patients' faces were covered with some sort of material, although he couldn't recognize what that material was. Perhaps something cool to soothe burns, he thought. The paramedics rushed the patients into an open emergency exam area, a look of pure fear and confusion on their faces. Several frantic police officers followed immediately.

As the nurses ran to assist, one grabbed at Murray's arm. Murray followed the group down the hall. The looks on the faces of those staring down at the four victims was nearly indescribable. Something horrid simply must have happened to these poor people. An eerie feeling overcame Murray as he quickly approached the exam area where the patients had all been wheeled into. There was a strange sort of silence that filled the ER suddenly, even nurses behind the desk on the other side of the emergency area were silent and peering through the large space to see the new patients. All the doctors, nurses, paramedics, and police officers, and patients in the wing seemed to have lulled into a shocked state of silence. Even the equipment quieted down. It almost felt like mourning at a funeral.

When he walked into the exam area, pushing aside the curtain as he came through, Dr. Carlos Murray joined in the silence. Everyone simply stood by allowing their eyes to adjust fully to what they were seeing. No one seemed to know what to do.

"All right," one doctor said. "Somebody's gotta' fill me in. What the hell?"

A paramedic looked up at the doctor. His eyes were filled with shock and fear and his voice barely cracked a whisper.

"We….they were…" the young paramedic swallowed, stared at the patient on the table and tried to pull himself together.

"They responded to a call…" another paramedic chimed in. His voice sounded equally shocked. "They never contacted back to the station afterwards…."

It wasn't until Dr. Murray looked beyond the patients' heads that he even came close to understanding what was going on. They were all police officers.

"Somebody… a disturbance…" another baffled paramedic said.

"There's more," a nurse pointed out. "More….civilians…. Coming in now."

The group turned and glanced at the nurse. Just behind him, they could see the doors swinging open yet again. Murray could not imagine that more people were arriving in the same condition as the police officers. _What was going on_?

Three more stretchers lined up in the corridor outside the triage rooms. Murray could see the outline of two males and one female. They looked barely out of their teens. Although everyone could plainly see the condition of the seven people before them, no one could understand what they were seeing. As the object that covered one of the police officer's faces _moved_ , the audible gasp of the officer below it seemed to echo throughout the emergency room area. Everyone around the recumbent man jumped away with a shriek.

"What the _hell_ are those things?" one officer demanded.

He looked nearly ready to break down.

"Jesus Christ." Another officer emphasized.

"All right, you'll…you'll all have to leave…" one doctor ordered.

"What the hell is going on?" the first officer demanded again, unwilling to leave his friends behind.

"As soon as we figure that out, we'll let you know," another doctor said.

"Well, do some fast figurin'… _they're dying!"_ the officer retorted.

It took a moment to clear the officers and extraneous personnel out of the area. It seemed everyone wanted a peek at the patients, and Murray could understand why. He, too, wanted to have a closer look. As the extraneous people left the room, the teams of doctors and nurses were now able to closer examine their patients.

Each of the patients did have something on their faces, but whatever it was, it was certainly not material to cover burns. Murray stepped in closer, moving up alongside Dr. Richardson, the head surgeon on duty that morning. He stared down at the police officer, leaning in to get a closer look.

The thing was _wrapped_ around the man's face. It looked like some sort of giant hand simply holding on the officer's face. The thing was a sickly sort of peachy brown color with a spiny ridge down its back and long, slender _legs_ that reached around the man's head.

"This… thing…. is _alive._ " Richardson confirmed as Murray peered closer.

It was some kind of animal, for sure. It almost had the appearance of a crab crossed with a daddy long leg spider with a tail added on. The thing pulsed occasionally on the officer's face and Murray could see a subtle twitch in the thing's demonic fingers from time to time. The animals' tails each were wrapped securely to their victims' throats. It did not appear they were holding on tight enough to strangle, but each time someone poked or prodded at the animal, Murray noted, it would tighten its grip.

The doctors instinctively tried to yank the fingers loose. No one was successful on the creature's individual fingers, so two teamed up and tried to pry one of the extremities loose.

"Holy shit," Murray said as he used all his force combined with Richardson's and still the thing would not budge.

Murray knelt down and stared at the creature from all angles. It had its fingers wrapped so tightly to the very back of the officer's head he could see blood seeping out from under all eight of the spider's grotesque limbs. It appeared that the animal had dug right into the top layers of skin with its hold.

"My God," Murray whispered to himself.

"Try again," Richardson said, and he, Murray, and three more people all yanked on different legs.

Another nurse joined in and grabbed hold of the creature's body and the top of the officer's head with one hand, and at the base near the tail with the other. As they all counted up to three before they pulled together, the animal tightened its grip. When the team yanked the creature tightened so much that the officer below started heaving, gasping for air. The animal was suffocating the man.

"Christ," he exclaimed as they pulled. "This thing's not coming off!"

"Let go! He's choking!" Someone yelled.

The group of people all dropped their grips and the animal loosened its own.

"Let's try just getting the tail off first," Murray suggested as he slipped into a pair of exam gloves and joined the pulling party.

He took a firm hold on the tip of the monster's tail and tried to unravel it from the man's neck. He and Richardson pulled with all their might, but the creature would not release. It responded to vain attempts at loosening its tail by clamping down with its fingers that much tighter. More blood oozed from officer's head.

"It's tightening down again." Richardson said.

"What in the hell is this thing?!" Murray exclaimed in frustration as he watched his fellow doctors try desperately to pull the things loose.

"Wait…" Murray finally said. He was knelt down next to the officer, his own face only inches away from the horrible creature's legs, staring at the small spaces made between the animal's body and the officer's face.

"What is it?" Myrk questioned.

"This thing's got….got something…" Murray couldn't quite put into words what he was seeing. "There's something going down his throat."

"What?" Richardson said as he too knelt down to have a peek. "Jesus."

"Maybe they're feeding…" Murray said he stared at another patient. "Like a...parasite...or something?"

"The animal is living off the host, and therefore must keep the host alive to feed," Murray whispered.

"We've got to get them off these people." A nurse said abruptly.

"No! If we do that maybe they will die!" Dr. Richardson defended.

"I don't think we can remove the animals," Murray shook his head. "Maybe this tube is holding the animal on...like an anchor from inside."

"Or maybe it's that damn tail," Richardson retorted with a 'let's try again' look in his eyes.

Murray fell quiet, stood and stared down the line of patients, trying to understand what he was seeing, but he simply could not. Seven people lined up in a row through the emergency room, all with some kind of never-before seen horrible crab monsters on their faces. Four police officers and three teenagers. Where did they find such animals? Were there more of them? What was going on?

"Nurse," Murray turned to the group of baffled R.N.'s behind him. Although he addressed no one in specific, one nurse answered.

"Yes?"

He swallowed and let his eyes drift back to the row of patients, beyond which he could see the other, mobile, patients in the other exam areas all peeking out, staring at this horrible and awkward sight.

"Would you please talk to the officers and paramedics that brought them all in. Find out what happened. Where they were, if they know what...what these things are."

Without a word she nodded and headed off to find the group of officers.

Meanwhile, a small group of doctors had now gathered. Physicians from other floors, other departments, had heard already about the mysterious animals that had been brought in. They whispered amongst each other, each new doctor suggesting that the animal simply be pried loose.

"We need to see what that...tube... is going down their throat. Where does it go? Perhaps that affects why we can't move the animal off." Richardson suggested.

"Let's...uh...let's take one down to CT and see what a scan might show us." Murray whispered.

In a rare moment that several doctors agreed upon one course of action, one of the stretchers was immediately wheeled into the elevator while the rest of the patients were wheeled into any available empty space and curtains put up to block curious onlooker's watchful eyes.

The CT scan machine was up and running in no time and the doctors that eagerly watched the monitor waited with anticipation of the scan's appearance. When an image finally did pop up, they could not make heads or tails of what they were seeing. They could clearly see _something_ down the throat of the fallen police officer. It entered the trachea and ended just before the bifurcation of the lobes of the lungs, where the doctors could see a very small mass that should not be there.

"What is that there?" Murray asked quickly upon seeing the outline of the mass.

"It could be a tumor." Another doctor suggested.

"Maybe the guy smokes, could be the onset of lung cancer." Richardson responded.

"It could also be related." Murray said, still eyeing the monitor.

No other abnormalities showed up on the scan.

"Let's scan them all. See if that mass is there in any of the others."

As the hours passed, all seven victims were scanned, and all seven had the same results. Other than that information, the team of doctors were still unsure of what exactly the creatures were, or what to do about them. The police officers and paramedics explanation of the events that took place in the early hours that morning left the doctors with more questions and less answers than they had hoped for, and a growing number of news vans were now lining the parking lot, asking all the same questions as Murray himself.

From all he knew, two officers responded to a call, in a small wooded area just outside Philadelphia. Murray was informed that it was common place for kids to get into all sorts of trouble, have fights, do drugs, or who knew what else. Two of the now immobilized officers responded to the call, and according the testimonies of the paramedics and officers that still waited in the lobby, when back up was called by a panicked officer, two more patrols showed up and with in ten minutes the others arrived to find this group of seven unconscious with the animals attached to their heads.

If it wasn't right in front of his face, Murray would not believe his eyes. Even with seven victims in front of him he had a hard time accepting what he was seeing. He sat in his quiet, dimly lit office and tested the limits of his knowledge for any useful information that could possibly apply to this situation. Nothing came to him as the hours passed. He just could not understand what the animals were or where they had come from. Surely nothing like this had ever been reported before. He was certain nothing on Earth even came close to this. Just as he was considering an extra terrestrial explanation for the events going on a few levels below, the ring of the telephone jostled his mind back to reality.

"Hello, Carlos Murray," he said plainly into the receiver.

On the other end was a colleague that Murray had often tried to remember to keep in touch with, but usually failed to do, except of course when there was a challenging case to discuss. The woman on the other end barely even said hello before she questioned him about the "chaos" going on at the hospital.

"Well, I wouldn't call it _chaos_ here just yet," Murray said.

"There? No, I mean here. I've got thirty-two patients here, been coming in all morning. They have some kind of _animal_ attached to them. Like a parasite."

His heart leapt into his throat as the lovely voice on the other became shaky and weak as she described in exact detail more those thirty patients in her hospital. Murray felt his hands trembling and his heart racing as he spoke to her. The conversation ended on a solemn note. Fear was in both doctors' hearts. This was something new, something _serious_ , something all over the country in a single night.

He wondered where else was this happening, and how did it happen in the first place. So many questions rushed into Murray's mind he squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed his hands through his hair trying to chase unanswerable questions out of his mind. He took a deep breath and stood up with great resolve as he turned and strode prominently out of his office door. He glared straight ahead as he walked to the elevators and deposited himself back into the emergency room area. His mind was made up. Something had to be done. He approached a weary Richardson and a still frantic group of nurses, clearly pushing overtime. He barely noticed that yet more new patients had arrived with animals attached to their faces, nor did he bother to look outside to see the media frenzy and a massive crowd flooding out of the waiting lobbies and into the parking lot.

"Prep one of them for surgery, I don't care which. We're taking it off."

There was no question in his voice. He barked the order like a commander and waited to see those he commanded hustle about making it happen. However, the room came to a halt. No one rushed towards the patients, no one headed to the surgery ward. No one spoke, no one barely breathed for what seemed like a short eternity. Murray ignored this and turned intently on one of the unconscious patients.

"We don't know if they'll die under surgery," Richardson suddenly whispered in Murray's ear.

Murray didn't even notice that Richardson had slid over to him. He simply maintained his stare toward one of the seven victims.

"We don't know what these animals are doing to them." Murray stated clearly. "They may die if we do nothing. We need to try something."

He turned abruptly to Richardson, voice in a whisper inches from Richardson's ear.

"I just got off the phone with a good friend. These animals are in California, too. Overnight," he snapped his fingers, anger, frustration and fear taking command of voice. "Just like that. Three thousand miles apart. She's got more than thirty of these patients."

Richardson's eyes grew wide and the room fell into a silent moment of shock.

"They are considering surgery as well. It needs to be done, get them prepped. Start with him," he pointed to the man whose feet he was standing near.

This time, Richardson nodded in agreement as he swallowed deeply and headed with Murray in the direction of the surgical suites.

Nurses soon followed, pushing the patient and hustling about making it happen. In record time, the patient was prepped and wheeled into surgery. One of the nurses instinctively gripped an endo-tracheal tube, awaiting the moment for her to intubate the patient. She stared down at the patient's smothered face and shook her head as she lay the tube down on a table next to her, feeling slightly foolish. The nurse took a deep breath and tried to control her shaking hands as she watched the rest of the team continue on.

Murray and Richardson walked into the room from the adjacent scrub area, followed closely by a small crowd of other physicians. The tension in the air was tangible as Murray took a deep breath and reached, without trying to second guess himself, for a scalpel.

"OK," he said determinedly. "I'm going to make an incision in the animal's...finger...leg...leg, just at the last joint here."

He then cleared his throat, wondering if the group of people in the room could hear the nervousness in his voice.

He shut his eyes just for a moment, but it was too long. Already within that brief moment a rush a self questioning overwhelmed him. He gritted his teeth against the urge to stop and do nothing. He did not know what removing the animal would do to the police officer below it. He knew the man's family had arrived and was awaiting any word from the surgeons about the fate of their husband and father. He tried to control his hand from shaking but he was sure that it was now noticeable.

None the less, he redirected his mind, and moved the scalpel blade closer to the creature's leg. Very slowly and carefully he found the perfect incision spot and with no more hesitation, he cut into the animal's leg. The creature pulsed and tightened its tail in response to the slice as an odd hissing sound filled the tense and silent room.

"What!" Murray said as he moved the scalpel blade closer to his eyes to evaluate it.

"My God."

The entire blade and handle were dissolving away. Murray dropped it to the ground as the path of dissolution nearly touched his finger tips. At that moment, he realized the crew on hand were all staring not at the fallen blade, but at the surgical table and ground below.

The corner of the table, just below the patient's left ear was _gone_ and as Murray's eyes tracked down to the floor, he found a quarter-sized hole just short of his left foot.

"The floor's been burned clean through!" someone said in shock.

Richardson and Murray looked between the animal's leg and the floor.

"The thing has acid for... _blood?_ " Murray asked aloud.

"I think it burned through the floor down there too," Richardson pointed out, carefully looking through the hole in the floor to the floor below.

"Be careful," Murray whispered in shock. "Don't get too near."

"We can't proceed." Richardson added.

Murray turned as if to argue the point, but stopped and nodded instead. Richardson was right. They could not remove the animal by manual force and they obviously could not cut the creature off the victim's face. One small drip from the blood of the animal would burn a hole through the patient's skull for sure, if it could go through steel surgical instruments, a steel table and two levels of flooring.

Murray dropped his head.

"Ok, let's put him back." He paused. "Let's get them all checked into rooms now. They could be here a while. We need to call the CDC or animal control, I don't know. Get all the patients into an isolated wing."

He turned his back on the nurses and his patient and began to remove his surgical cap and gloves as he walked away with an overwhelming feeling of defeat surrounding him. He barely made it to the other end of the room when a nurse called out.

"Wait! Something's happening."

He turned back and watched. The animal was pulsing and moving more than it had all day. The tail twitched and the suspense in the room jumped up several notches. No one moved, as though all were afraid that movement might startle the animal and make it do something horrible.

The leathery 'tentacle' pulled back from the officer's mouth and disappeared inside in vulvular fold of skin on the underside of the animal. The long, hard fingers eased their grip around the officer's scalp and the strange little crab creature simply flopped off to one side, hung there loosely for a moment, then unwrapped its tail from the man's throat and hit the floor with a dull thud, accompanied by gasps from the people that filled the room as they jumped away and stared.

Murray moved in towards the creature. He quickly grabbed a pair of exam gloves and groped an instrument tray near by for anything sufficiently long enough to keep him as far from the thing as possible. All eyes stared at the strange creature that had folded its legs against its belly. Murray slowly reached the hemostats forward and jabbed lightly at the creature. He felt his own body jump a little in anticipation that the animal on the floor might do something, but the creature did not move.

"Be careful, Carlos," he heard someone say, but his attention was focused on the animal at his feet.

He poked at it again and satisfied himself that it was dead.

"It's dead." He said certainly. This was the first thing he was certain about since the patients arrived.

"You killed it!" Myrk said with a gleeful victory in his voice.

"I couldn't have," Carlos added doubtedly. "I don't see how…."

For a short moment no one said anything.

"Let's get the patients into rooms and monitored. I want someone in the room with them at all times." Murray stated.

The nurses nodded and they headed out of the surgical room. Meanwhile, Murray and his staff stared at the dead animal on the floor before them.

"What do we with it?" Myrk questioned.

"It needs to be sent for study," Murray said quickly. "Let's bag and freeze it for now."

The men wrestled their fears for a moment and then, utilizing the longest instruments they could find, they picked the animal off the ground. Its leg had stopped dripping acid blood, which was a relief to the wary men trying to handle the little monster. Just as the three men managed to wrestle the cadaver, which easily measured four feet from tip of head to tip of tail, into a bag, an excited nurse came bursting into the surgery room.

"Doctors!" She exclaimed without hesitation.

"What' happened?" Murray questioned as he stepped forward.

"They've all fallen off! The animals! They're all dead on the ground!"

Wide eyed, and almost making a small smile, Murray and the others nearly leapt out the surgery room and sprinted down the corridor, around a corner, into the elevator, and down to the emergency area where all the patients had spent most of the day. Just beyond the triage area, Murray could see the line up of stretchers. Lying on the ground near all the stretchers were the cadavers of the spider-crab creatures that had spent the last twelve hours clasped onto their victims' faces.

A wave of relief rushed over the concerned and frightened hospital staff. At least the patients appeared to be out of immediate danger. Besides some deep cuts into all the victims' heads where the animals' bony, acid filled fingers had dug in, each of the patients appeared uninjured and in no pain at all. In fact, they all seemed rather comatose. Once the patients were wheeled to rooms, where they were joined by their families, none of whom had played witness to the sight of their loved ones with a spidery pulsating animal attached to their heads, the medical staff was able to take a deep breath and evaluate the condition of the seven patients.

It was nearing midnight, close to fifteen hours after the first three victims, the trouble-making teenagers, as they were reported, opened their eyes. Aware of their surroundings and completely able to interact with others, each seemed to suffer from memory loss of what exactly had happened to them. But for now anyway, Carlos Murray saw no immediate danger. Within the next hour, the other four patients woke up from their nearly fifteen hour coma- nightmare.

They all explained nearly the same events, with the same symptom of memory loss.

"I just remember hearing something… a noise… thought maybe it was a dog or something. I looked over and…. And… that's it. That's all I remember." The first to regain consciousness explained. The others all shared a similar story.

While the teenagers openly admitted to sneaking into to the wooded area to smoke marijuana, and the police officers could recall with great detail walking into the grove and finding what appeared to be a burnt up ATV with three unconscious teenagers lying next to the wreckage with their faces covered in a leathery, moving shroud, not one of them could actually remember the creature attaching to their faces.

After speaking individually to all the patients, Murray retreated to his office for some sleep.

He thought briefly about calling his colleague in California, but he imagined she was probably just as confused and exhausted as he was with the day's excitements. He just his eyes as he lay on the sofa in a small room just off of the main work area and decided that in the morning, he would reevaluate the mass in all seven chests to try to determine just what the alien creatures had done to the people.


	4. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER THREE**

Lewis was up before the radio alarm, before first light. He leapt out of bed like a child on Christmas morning, uncontrollably excited about the prospect of being one of the first to get a fresh update about the people in the infirmary. He fumbled around in the darkness and donned his fatigues and boots as quickly and quietly as possible before tip toeing towards the door. He reached for the handle.

"What are you doing?" Davis whispered.

Lewis jumped slightly, not expecting that he had woken his room mate up.

"I.." he whispered, "I just want to see what's going on..."

"See what, Lewis? Are you going to sneak into the infirmary or something?" Davis said with tone in his voice that suggested both that Lewis shouldn't do it and that he wanted to go with him.

"No! Will you be quiet! Shh!" I just want to go out and see if anybody knows anything. That's all."

"Well, wait for me, alright?"

He waited silently for Davis to dress and not too long before breakfast mess time, the two headed down the corridor of the barracks building and out into the main courtyard. Even though there were always ranks out all day and all night on the base, Lewis thought for sure he and Davis would be the only ones sneaking around before they were supposed to be. To his surprise, he found many people out in the early hours of the morning, all casually glancing toward the infirmary unit and trying to mingle amongst each other as unsuspiciously as possible.

Everyone wanted know what was going on, and much to Lewis's surprise, commanding officers were not in sight. No one was ordering their troops back to their barracks or back to their duties, or just away from the area. Perhaps it was because no one dared get too close to the infirmary, Sans thought. It appeared as though any officers inside the building that may have been cued in to the curious glances from the ever growing number of troops outside must have understood the peoples' concerns.

The morning was quiet as the dawn light broke through the night clouds and yet more curious and worried people starting filing out of their assigned barrack areas headed for the mess hall, but casting curious eyes towards the infirmary complex.

The ominous gray building lingered quietly in the morning light, still silent, holding its secrets. Officers gathered around the cafeteria and whispered to one another for close to twenty minutes, each trying to figure out what another knew. Those that had had overnight duties were quick to get interrogated by curious peers. As it turned out some of the overnight crew did at least know some information. It wasn't much, but it was enough to pacify the mobs at least.

Coolbaugh found Sans and Lyle in the group.

"Did you here what Marshall was sayin' guys?"

They glanced at her, "No, what did he say."

She took a breath and licked her lips,

"He said that the senior officers are all still in the infirmary, he overheard something about a call to the CDC and said he thought he heard a lieutenant say something about a possible contagion."

"Well, what kind of contagion?" Davis questioned.

"Yea, are they thinking like anthrax or something?" Louis asked. "Who are the patients?"

Johnson suddenly joined the conversation, "Well a contagion explains a lot, at least. That's why their faces were covered and all."

"And why it's minimal crew only in there," Coolbaugh added.

Sans nodded, "Yeah, well I still want to know who the people are."

Someone else heard him speak as the crowd started heading into the mess hall.

"They were sent out to investigate some kind of blip on the radar," the young man said.

"Yeah, we know that," Johnson responded.

The soldier's eyes grew wide with shock. He apparently thought he was delivering unknown information and couldn't understand how this small group of people knew what had happened.

"Yeah," Coolbaugh nodded.

"Really?"

"The blip showed up on his radar," she said pointing to Lewis.

Like an awe struck child, the private turned on a dime to face Sans, now trembling with anticipation of finding out new information. "What was it like? What happened!?"

Sans shrugged casually, unphased by the old news of the blip.

"It was just like...like a blip... lit up fast and was gone before I could blink."

"Whoa," the officer sounded thoroughly fulfilled as a soft smile crossed his lips. "A U.F.O."

"I guess so," Sans said, now sounding bored with the conversation.

"Do you know who the people are?"

"I know one guy is Patrick Morris, and then Tyrone said that his brother Jake never showed up

yesterday. I heard he went over to the infirmary asking if his brother was in there and they forced him out. Threatened to put him the brig if he didn't leave."

"Oh, man," Davis said solemnly. "I've got to talk to him."

Without another word he strode off into the mess area. Melinda and Louis watched him leave.

"They've all been friends since high school, Davis and Jake were in the same class, and Tyrone was

one year back from them." Melinda said with the same tone in her voice one might have while describing someone during their own funeral.

The morning sky blazed several shades of orange and a warm gentle breeze passed through the officers as their voices quieted down and they continued forth into the cafeteria, keeping to their schedules.

Davis sat with Tyrone at a bench near the back of the hall. Lewis noticed how obviously distraught he looked,

worrying over the fate of his older brother. His head was slung low and he didn't touch his food. Sans and the others

couldn't help but glance to the back of the room. They tried to keep their eyes on the trays in front of them, but the desire to gather information was too strong.

"Jeeze, what is going on in there?" Coolbaugh said with great emphasis on every word, clear frustration

in her voice.

"You know it'll all turn out to be nothin', watch." Johnson said as he shoved a spoonful of breakfast into his mouth. "They just do this because they can."

"All they're doing right now is causing stress and tension in their officers."

"This _is_ the Army, Lewis. It's about stress and tension and following your orders."

"Oh yeah, and you're so great at that," Coolbaugh shot out.

"Hey, I didn't say you had to be good at it." He said with a cocky laugh.

Sans and Coolbaugh shared a much needed moment of laughter with Johnson, but the feeling drifted

away as three senior officers strolled into the cafeteria. Melinda nudged Lewis in the arm and nodded her head sideways towards the three officers.. The three men simply stood there for a moment before turning to the counter for some food.

"They know something," Sans said suspiciously. "They have to."

"Course they know, man," Johnson agreed, "but they're probably not going to fill us in."

They continued to rush through their meal with very little talk after that. In a few more minutes, they finished, stood, deposited their trays back and headed out of the building, all casting wary glares towards the infirmary as they separated ways and headed for their assignments.

Their morning played out routine as usual, with a morning jog and some training drills. Nothing was different and none of the officers in charge even cast an interested glance at the infirmary or acted like anything was wrong.

Sans couldn't help but feel that his commander was trying very hard to not look at the infirmary,

and that it showed in his eyes that there was great concern behind those walls. But then again, he shook his head slightly before pulling his chin up over the exercise bar one more time, perhaps he was over thinking it, and nothing at all was going on inside that building. He contented himself for a while with the thought that whether or not whatever had happened to those officers was good or bad, he would be informed on an as needed basis. For now, no news was no news, and that was all there was to it.

Sans focused on his training and drills until he had a break just before noon. He joined up with Lyle and they walked together to the hose and waited for a small crowd of sweaty, hot soldiers to finish soaking their heads to help cool down from the blazing sun and excessively hot temperatures. Sans flicked his wet hair and stood straight, casting a subconscious glance towards the infirmary.

"Holy shit, look!" Sans said quickly.

Davis swung his head around, patting his clean cut head dry with a bright white towel he had slung over his shoulder.

"Whoa!"

Tyrone Jameson was just disengaging from an excited hug with his brother as the two men looked across the base. Many people were flocking over to the infirmary as people emerged from the double doors of the unit. Curious and excited, their fellow officers overwhelmed the people and soon they broke off into smaller groups and headed off to different areas to tell the tale all had been eagerly waiting to hear.

Davis and Louis, soon joined by Johnson and Coolbaugh joined with Tyrone and his brother and a fair group of curious spectators, all asking in a hundred different ways just exactly what had happened as they headed off towards a less active area of the courtyard.

"It was weird, I don't know..." Jake hesitated. "I'm not really sure I can explain it." He looked into

the crowd and saw Lewis watching him eagerly.

"Hey Lewis, I heard you're the one that called it."

Sans just nodded, but many curious eyes turned to him and just as quickly started asking him about

the blip. Everyone wanted to know what is was like, and all seemed very disappointed with his description. After a moment the group all turned back to Jake prompting him once again to describe the events that had unfolded yearly yesterday morning.

"Well," he started and raised his eyebrows. "We got to the sight of the radar blip. You know, just to check it out, see what happened. There were eight of us in the group. They didn't tell us much on the way there, only that there had been an anomaly on the radar. We were all figuring it was going to be nothing, you know. Just some stupid drill in the middle of the night.

But when we got there..." he stopped. His eyes drifted off the to side and focused onto something

in between this world and the next.

"What was it?" One member of the crowd had said.

"What happened?" Another eager listener asked.

"Bro, you okay?" Tyler asked of his older brother. He waited for a moment before tapping

him lightly on the shoulder. The entire audience around Jake seemed to hold their breath as they waited for him

to continue his story.

"Yeah, sorry, I'm fine...really. It's just weird. I don't really know what happened." Jake said with a deep swallow. He seemed very uncertain and maintained a distant look in his eyes.

"What do you mean?" His brother asked of him.

He shook his head and tried to pull his mind together. He subconsciously tipped his hat around for

a moment.

"Jake, what happened to your head?" Davis asked suddenly, noticing a deep cut just under the edge of the hat when it was jostled about on the officer's head.

Calling attention to the man's head, all eyes gazed upon it. Jake suddenly looked weak and shaky as he removed the hat to the gasp of the crowd and his brother.

"Oh my God, Jake, what did this to you?" Tyrone asked with great concern.

"It was...some...something." He took a deep breath. "Some kind of animal is what he said," he

responded.

"Who said? What kind of animal would do this?" Tyrone insisted as Jake replaced his cap.

"We went out to the sight of the radar blip," Jake started again, more secure in his voice, as though determined to finish the tale.

He did hesitate for a moment before continuing. "I'm not even sure I'm supposed to be talking about it, they didn't say, so... I guess."

"Anyway, we arrived there at zero three fifty hours. Seven of us went out to investigate and Patrick

stayed on radio."

"Patrick Morris?" Someone in the crowd confirmed.

Jake nodded and continued.

"Yeah, we didn't really find much. I mean we were all ready to take down terrorists or something, but we kind of figured it would be nothing too, right. So, well, we walk in a little bit through the woods. We were just at the edge of the city. There was this weird smell, kind of smelled a bit like a jet engine or something. Like lots of gas and burning. Trees were broken down.

Big trees, too. Just snapped in half. So we figured it was probably for sure a plane that had gone down. But there really wasn't any wreckage. We just found a little spot in the woods, maybe twenty feet around, that was burned up pretty bad. In the middle of the clearing there was thing piece of machinery. It really looked

a lot like an ATV but it definitely had tank treads. Freakiest looking this I've ever seen. Never seen nothin' like it you know. So, we go in to investigate, and I remember seeing these _things_.

I don't know what they were, but they were kind of fallen onto the ground from the ATV thing.

They were big." He gestured to a point higher than his knee. Jake was a tall man, the level he indicated was about three feet off the ground. "They were really weird. Seven of them. Seven eggs."

" _Eggs?"_ Someone in the crowd repeated with exasperation.

"What do you mean, eggs?" Tyrone asked with a frown.

"I've never heard of an egg that big," Johnson added.

"Well, they weren't like real eggs." Jake tried to explain. He paused dramatically, scanning his

own mind to find the right words to describe what he was seen.

"No they were eggs. They looked kind of soft, not like a hard eggshell. More like leather hide

really tall eggs. They had to be eggs because I remember them hatching. The tops of them unfolded like leaves or petals or somethin'. We could all see something moving inside."

He paused for a moment, a deep distant frown upon his face as his hand reached as though on its

own around to the back of his, gently coddling the wounds on his scalp.

"I don't really remember much. It was real quiet, you know, nothing really made any noise. I bent

over to see what was in the eggs, but I don't... I don't remember a damned thing after that. Nothing, man. I'm sorry. I just know I woke up in the infirmary, and I was told that Patrick said I was... said we all were... attacked by some kind of animals that came out the eggs. Nobody really remembers much. They were all attacked as the eggs hatched. I guess whatever the animals were wouldn't let go cause they hauled us all back here with those things on our faces they said."

"They were on your faces?" Coolbaugh repeated. "What did they do to you?"

"Nothin'. They didn't do anything to any of us, 'cept put some gashes on all our heads. We're all fine. We're off duty for a day or two to recover, but they said we check out fine. Docs just said our lungs are little harsh, but they figure it was from not being able to breath right for... what... I guess twelve or thirteen hours." He shrugged and fell quiet.

It really didn't sound like an impressive story, but that was all there was to tell. He felt more than

a little silly for being the first one to stick his face up to the leathery eggs the group found in the woods, but he was glad nothing significant had happened to him or his comrades.

"When did you come round?" Sans asked.

"Umm... I woke up last night I guess. We all did. They kept us in there overnight to evaluate us. They were afraid we might be infectious or something, treated us like biohazards. They had to make sure we were decontaminated before they even thought about letting us go. But we're all fine. Tired a little maybe, but we're all alright."

As the others asked a few more questions of him and discussed the story that they had just heard

with him and amongst themselves, Jake grew tired. He coughed a few times and decided it was probably best to get some rest. The activity of being up and walking and story telling was somewhat exhausting.

"Look, Ty, I'm gonna go lay down, kay? I'm really kind of tired." Jake said, clearing his throat one

more time.

"Yeah bro, go rest. I'll get you in a few hours."

"Sounds good." Jake started away towards the barracks, but was called back by his brother.

"I'm glad you're okay." Tyrone said smiling slightly.

"Thanks man." Jake said and walked off.

On his way to the barracks he saw another of his team mates headed the same way, looking equally as tired as he felt. He exchanged a quick greeting and the two walked into the unit together, headed to their rooms and laid down.

Shock and confusion filled the base, but also a sense of relief knowing the group that was attacked was no worse for wear. The attitude of the base had lightened up significantly. The majority of people spent their day wildly discussing the stories they had all been treated to. Other officers in Jake's group were able to give slightly more details of the animals.

They described the egg hatchlings as being some sort of crab like animal with a long whip-like tail. One of the last men to suffer an attack explained that the animals simply leapt from the leathery sacks in which they came and clinged on to the faces of their victims as though they knew exactly what to do. The creatures were described as acting so quickly, so instinctively, it was like they had been attacking humans with great proficiency for hundreds of years. No one, however, could ever recall a single instance of this type of attack in the past.

Everyone was glad though that their friends were back with no serious injuries, just some scratched up heads and a bit of rattled consciences. The day soon returned to normal; duty ships and training drills as usual. Routine was comforting, and Lewis found that especially helpful today, as life continued to return to normal.

He headed out for a jog. He enjoyed exercise, keeping fit, learning new weapons. Military life suited him, he thought. He was only twenty, but had already learned more than he ever thought he could about himself and life. Though he had only been enlisted for just barely over five months, he was certain that with time, he could work his way up to being a senior officer as well. It seemed as good a goal as any.

Melinda was just as enthusiastic about the military as he. She was a strong woman, very pretty, with her short cut reddish hair adding definition to her fine cheek bones and brown eyes. He knew that she and Johnson, while on the outside always made snappy remarks to one another and seemed to be uninterested in one another, really liked each other deep down, but he still hoped there might be a chance for him. Just maybe.

As his mind drifted a little in the hot afternoon sun, Sans idly gazed across the base while he jogged, watching several more officers, who obviously had not heard the tale of what took place listen intently to another of the group of seven tell the story. It was quickly becoming old news, though. Most of the base had heard the story by now.

But there were still many details of the officers' experiences that didn't make much sense at all.

What was the tank treaded ATV? Where did it come from? How were large trees around the area broken clean in two, and why was it in an area just outside a major city? Terrorists would surely have struck dead center in the city, and more likely than not, during daylight hours to cause the most panic and fear. What were the animals the officers had talked about? How did that blip on his radar monitor appear, Lewis thought.

So many questions poured into his mind all at once. Early this morning he was craving answers

to about the people in the infirmary. Now that he had those answers, he sought more. All the officers were fine, and all the fretting that he, and probably mostly everyone on the base, did the entire day yesterday was over nothing. But he did feel that there was still some cause for concern, not necessarily for the men that had been attacked, but just over the general mysterious surrounding the vehicle and the three foot tall leather eggs carrying face-attacking crab monsters.

Another rush of questions soared into his mind as he approached Coolbaugh jogging before him. From the corner of his eye he saw a private that he recognized as being amongst the attackees jogging towards him on the track. Sans thought his skin looked awfully pale.

He was jogging slowly and grew ever slower as he crept closer towards him. Lewis could hear a very harsh sound and it took him a moment to realize that it was the man's breathing as he bent over, resting his hands on his knees and hanging his head low. He began to cough and gasp for air and Sans ran to his side just behind Coolbaugh. Several others nearby jolted over to help.

Sans knelt down next to the young man. He couldn't have been more than nineteen. His skin was

turning a sickly white, his eyes were rolled back into his head and he was gripping the ground tightly and trying desperately to breath.

As several others ran over to his aid as well, the young officer began to contort and moan loudly, coughing heavily. Someone shouted for a medic as another voice in the group suggested that he was having a seizure. Sans felt his heart skip several beats then speed up. Suddenly fear rushed back into him. This man was not alright at all.

Coolbaugh ran off the field calling as loud as she could for a medic and suddenly the entire base seemed to jump into action.

"Hurry!" Lewis called to her as he watched her leave the field, a mild wave of panic trying hard to take hold.

He kept his eye to her as she shot off quickly. Suddenly Coolbaugh's shouting voice faded and Sans

looked beyond her to see three other people lying on the ground in the same fashion. Frantic officers were running to their aid, and medics began to dash out of the infirmary. As a stunned Melinda turned with wide eyes back to Lewis and the others, Sans heard the man he was kneeling next to moan and holler horribly and then felt something warm and wet hit his turned face. Lewis saw blood everywhere, felt it running down his face. The other men gasped.

"Jesus, what's happening to him?" Someone shouted.

Sans scanned the man's body for the source of the blood. His entire shirt and vest was soaked black with blood and the man's chest was raising furiously. He was bleeding out his mouth and nose and spraying it with every forced breath, cough, and moan. At first glance Lewis thought the man was extending his lungs as much as he could for air, but he very quickly realized that the officer he was holding an arm of, had stopped moving. His eyes were locked in place, half way rolled back into his ghostly white blood spattered face, mouth gaping open from one final shriek of fear and pain. The officer was dead.

Sans' eyes looked down from the man's face. His chest was still contorting wildly. It looked as though something was trying to raise out from within the dead boy's rib cage. In a moment, a loud crunching and ripping sound filled the ears of the officers that were still pinning the dead body to the ground.

It was the sound of shattering bone and tearing skin. With one quick motion, a sickly creature emerged from the officer's chest, hissing and teetering about, covered in the officer's own blood. Sans' eyes fixed upon the metallic looking teeth in the snakey creature's mouth. He couldn't move. He was paralyzed with shock and fear. The other men jumped up shouting, and someone yanked Lewis back hard.

"Move!"

"Jesus!"

"What the hell is that?!"

"What is going on!"

The men in the group shouted all at once, unable to remove their eyes from the horrid creature

that had emerged from the chest of their fallen friend. The monstrous little thing burst from the officer's chest and bolted off, its little tail whipping around behind it.

Fearless, it shot directly underneath a stunned nearby officer that was dripping with fresh blood and nearly as pale as the man on the ground. He was so stunned by all that had just transpired he didn't even react to the creature that bolted with incredible speed under his legs as the men around jumped sideways to get away from the ferocious snakelike animal.

The thing disappeared in another instant behind the command center at the edge of the field, probably headed for the trees just a few feet beyond.

Sans felt utterly ill. Although he did not want them to, his eyes maintained a hazy focus on the gaping hole in the young man's chest on the ground before his feet. He heard someone next to him begin to vomit. Coolbaugh slapped her hand onto his shoulder, tears in her eyes.

"Lewis?" she roused him from his frozen state of shock.

"Jesus, Melinda..." he said as he finally turned his eyes from the man's body.

She looked pale too and he could feel her hand trembling upon his shoulder. Sans turned slowly

back to the courtyard and tried to keep himself together as his eyes moved from one dead body to another.

Tyrone, who Sans didn't even really notice was standing next to him suddenly shot his head in the

direction of the barracks.

"Oh, God, Jake!" He shouted and bolted off towards the barrack unit.

Without any words, several other men followed and Sans and Coolbaugh took off after a slight delay, running quick to catch up. They reached the barracks.

Tyrone shot down the hallway, he slipped out from his own feet as he tore around a corner. Regaining his balance he slammed through the door of his brother's room. Sans and Coolbaugh were just getting into the building, following up the small crowd.

Hysterical and disbelieving screaming echoed through the halls and past the officers piled in it. So loud they were that they drowned out the sounds of the alarms that were now ringing their call to all officers. Two men pulled Jameson to his feet and dragged him out his brother's room away from the sight of blood and broken bones. Officers were piling into the courtyard while medics rushed to clean the bodies up from sight.

A large frightened group of soldiers did their best to keep their composure as they stood in attention facing a group of commanding officers before them. It seemed that even their higher ranks didn't know what to say or think about this. They too looked shaken and fearful. A tense silence filled the area until finally someone, still panicked from fright shouted out.

"What the hell are those things Lieutenant?"

"Here's what we know, folks. And it isn't much."

Desperate for answers, the soldiers hushed. The lieutenant waited for a moment, eyes watching

another officer pacing back and forth with a telephone pressed firmly to his ear. He suddenly nodded to the lieutenant and all eyes left him and focused back onto their commander.

"We're not the only ones reporting this... incident. We're finding out now that these things are showing

up all over. We weren't the only base to see odd things on their instruments early Saturday morning. We are not sure exactly how wide spread this is, but we do know that at least a dozen more areas have been affected."

"Just near Virginia, Sir?" Sans asked quickly, speaking out of turn and interrupting, but that didn't

seem to matter much to him.

The lieutenant shook his head as he unfolded a small sheet of paper.

"Pennsylvania, Georgia, Louisiana, New Mexico, California, North Carolina, and here in Virginia so far. All these states are now reporting encounters with these eggs and the animals that would hatch from them. In some cases there are multiple locations throughout each of these states."

Anger and tension welled high in the group of soldiers as their commander continued to brief them with

what little information he was offering. Sans couldn't help but idly wonder if they knew more than what was being fed to the soldiers. He did not know if that was true or not, but he did know one thing for certain, the fear and panic that these things would bring with them would be more widespread than the animal itself. As the lieutenant finished his lecture, Sans tried to quell his queasy gut, but the thought of war on the horizon weighed heavily in his mind.

When the briefing was finished, several officers shot their hands up in the air.

"What is this, Q&A?" The agitated lieutenant snapped.

A woman in the very front stepped just a few inches closer the lieutenant's podium, "Sir, please,

Sir, do we know where they came from?"

The hurly commanding officer pursed his lips.

"No," he said simply, clearly, and unquestionably.

He could read the looks of confusion and fright on the faces of the many soldiers before him and added, "Look, we have no other option at the moment than to assume that this was some kind of terrorist attack."

Several heads nodded. Sans wanted to believe it too, but it was suddenly becoming harder to accept that as the truth. He lightly touched Coolbaugh's elbow and whispered into her ear.

"How could terrorists deposit these animals across the entire country, show up on every radar,

and pull off without being caught?"

Coolbaugh frowned, shrugged and shook her head.

Sans sighed deeply. He was going to continue, but the words his lieutenant spoke next caught his, and everyone else's attention.

"We're going to find these little bastards and eradicate them. Now."

The hush that swept over the officers was tangible. Although everyone was agitated, certain something major was on the horizon, it was obvious by the still silence that no one wanted to be the first to dare to venture out into the woods to find and kill the chest-bursting little monsters. However, on that note, the lieutenant gave up the podium to another commander who began with the mission briefing. They would start with the woods that surrounded their scenic base, and hunt down the seven hatchlings, or as many of them as they could find.

Sans and his assigned team headed off to gear up. He watched silently as his friends, split onto other teams also geared up in other lines. They received extra weapons, an extra vest, along with other standard issue supplies in their back pack. This would be a walking mission, and they would probably not come back until it was deemed that the mission was complete.

Seven teams in total, one team for each of the little monsters, were armed and ready to depart in just about fifteen minutes. Sans swallowed deeply as his troop was first to march off into the woods. No one had any idea if the creatures would be easy or hard to find, nor did they really even know where the little animals had disappeared to. The thought crossed several officers' minds as all the units, flowed out in different directions that it was possible not all of the animals took to hiding in the woods.

While four of the affected people died out in the open, on the exercise field, in the courtyard, in the paths between some of the base's buildings, three more had died behind closed doors; two in their barracks, and one in front of a computer at an empty desk in an empty room.

No witnesses were present to see which direction those creatures had run off in. It was possible that they were hiding in the base itself. Sans glanced back to the base just before it left his view entirely. He could see more armed soldiers taking to guard, defenses were going to higher levels. He did see several armed men enter the barracks building intently. He nodded to himself. The base was being searched.

The units soon fell out of view as the team of soldiers jogged into the woods. No one dared speak. What would be said was already on everyone's mind: how would they find their targets, and what were they in the first place? It did not need to be spoken. They simply had to search the woods. Sans scanned the ground for any type of slithery track, but the leaf cover and twigs and branches and low bushes would provide perfect cover for a creature that was barely three feet long.

The team searched aimlessly for over three hours. The only thing they had managed to find was, indeed, another of the search teams. Spirits were low and frustration was high as the two groups consulted with each other quietly and briefly, then parted ways again, separating off to cover more terrain. Sans moved off with his group, staying close to the side of one of his fellow officers.

"This is crazy," the man whispered so quietly Sans had to hold his breath to hear him speak. "We're not going to find this thing. It's like trying to find a needle in a haystack."

Sans did not respond. He was sure that the officer was probably right, but none the less, search was what they would do, despite the notion that the hunt might turn out to be a waste of time. As they came to a resting point after about another two hours of careful, quiet searching, Lewis wondered what possible dangers the little beasts would offer. They had already proven fatal, he thought. What would the snake-like things they were hunting prove to be exactly? Night time swooped in quicker than usual, leaving the groups searching by spot light, each man in each unit holding their breath and trying to tiptoe over sticks and rocks without drawing any unwanted attention.

As his group halted for a rest, Sans watched a stream brisk by as he bit into some rations and listened to the officers next to him talk quietly.

"Terrorists. I don't believe it."

"What's not to believe? They're capable of anything, I swear."

"Where in the hell did they find these things?" The two men started.

"And how did they manage to deliver them without being stopped," Sans added in, keeping his eyes focused on the running water.

"Yeah, that too," the officer whispered. "Hey, Lewis," he said, reading Lewis's name insignia. "Did I hear that you saw the radar blip?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I saw it."

"Well, shit, what happened?"

Sans shook his head and frowned, still watching the stream run by.

"That's what doesn't make sense," he whispered. "The blip flew on to the screen, lit up quick, and blew right off. It …it was so fast." He paused for a moment and turned to the two men next to him.

"What kind of plane would a terrorist have that would be capable of dropping off an ATV full of eggs in over a dozen sites and only show up on radar for a second? I don't see how it's related, yet it _has_ to be."

"Well there's a lot of ways, I guess," one officer raised his eyebrows. "Radar jamming devices...maybe they have a stealth plane or something."

"Something just doesn't make sense," Sans still maintained.

"Well, where do you think they came from, then?" The other officer asked.

Lewis shook his head, "I don't know, but this just doesn't feel right." He put his eyes back to the water, watching the light from the spot lights flicker across the ripples on the dark glassy surface.

"I wonder if we're going to press on throughout the night or return to base?" one of the officers said as he stood up.

"Do you really want to sleep with those creepy little things out here somewhere?" the other one asked.

"It's all good, I've got myself covered," the man responded, tapping his gun slightly and smiling.

The rest of the group was talking quietly amongst themselves. Sans glanced over them, reading deeply into the uneasiness across most of their faces. He dropped his head for a moment, wrestling still with the confusing thoughts and myriad of questions that continued to stream into his mind. He set his eyes back again up the water and watched it flow quickly away from him. Suddenly, an odd glossy shimmer in the water caught the corner of his eye.

It was not flashlight bouncing off the water, there was something in the water, breaking the smooth surface. It was drifting away quickly with the flow of the shallow stream. Sans leapt up, grabbing the attention of everyone nearby.

"What is that?" He said, pointing. The ill-defined thing flowed right past him and without a second thought he jogged quickly down the shore to catch it. For a moment as he reached his hand out, he thought it looked like a body, but as he pulled it out, he was sure there was no way it was ever a human body.

The group of officers all huddled around as he laid the sopping thing on the ground. Whatever it was, it appeared to be semi-transparent, with only the faintest hints of whitish color to it. Another person, questioning what it was reached forward and fidgeted with the unusual object.

"It's thick," he said. "It feels like... almost like plastic or something."

"It's probably just garbage," the commander in charge said briskly casting the object no more attention.

Someone else now had knelt down and continued to move the object around, a determined frown upon his face. He looked as though he was trying to solve a rubix cube. He did not look up, nor question the translucent object, nor add his thoughts until he was absolutely certain.

"Look," he said with certainty, "I owned a bunch of snakes. I'm telling you this is a molted skin."

Sans felt his pulse increase. He stared at it there on the ground before him. Somehow, although none of this made any sense at all to Lewis, he knew deep down that the officer was right. This was a skin. But certainly not from a snake, at least not from the snake like animals they were chasing. The skin he had pulled out of the water was just about as large as he was. It was the same size as a human being. The things they were hunting down were about the size of a writhing baseball bat.

"Look, there's a tail," the officer said quickly to the stunned group of soldiers around him.

All eyes followed the man's finger as he traced the outline of a thick tail.

"How can this be a skin?" Another officer said. "There's nothing that big, there's no snake that big."

"We really don't know what we're chasing down...what if... what if..." the officer started as he stood up from the sopping wet skin.

"What if what?" Someone else cut him off. "What if the little thing we all started out chasing grew up big and strong?"

"All I'm saying is it is possible. We really _don't_ know what these things are."

Sans kept his eyes locked onto the shedded skin on the ground.

"He's right," he said plainly, as though he had known this all along. "He's right."

All eyes glanced from Sans to their leader. Tension quickly mounted. They were all afraid, and the look on their commander's face offered them no guide, no support and no directives. He was equally frightened and unprepared for the expedition. The officers in his troop gave him a questioning look. It was a look for which he had no answers. It was a look that was asking, 'what should we do?'

A loud howl startled all the members of the search time, adding to the intense fear the already felt. Several people aimed their rifles instinctively in the direction of the screeching sound.

"It's just an owl guys, relax." Someone said easily.

Lewis couldn't help but to scan the woods around them. There were trees to his right, left, and behind him. They were not terribly thick trees. The unit wasn't trying to forge a patch through untamed jungle. This was a forest, not far off at all from a camping area. The entire area was about as scenic as scenery could get. Tall, thick trees filled the area for endless miles. Paths had been made through the trees, for training and exercise as well as recreation.

In front of Sans was the gentle stream. It was not deep, nor very wide. One good leap and someone could jump clean across, but they would land on more rocks that rose up quickly along the hillside. The hill flattened out after a short, steep incline, where one would find a long path carved through the large ancient rocks that gave the woods their character. Sans evaluated the hill for a moment. His mind told him the rocks would make a perfect hiding place. There were crevices deep and wide enough for a person to slip into, and black enough for hordes of bats to nestle in during the bright days to escape the light. Slowly he slid over to his commander, noticing that he too was scanning the countryside. The look in his eyes told Sans that he was fearing the area too.

"Sir, we are in danger here, Sir." Lewis whispered firmly to his commander.

He had tried to keep his voice low, but with the others in such close proximity, their eyes grew wide and their guns pointed around as they heard Sans words.

"Uhh..." the commander muttered. He fumbled at his waist for his radio to call back to base.

Raising the microphone to his face, he pressed the button and said nothing.

"Sir?" Sans asked quickly.

"Hello? Is someone there? What's going on? Who's there. Identify yourself." The voice on the other end of the radio started.

Once again the commander pressed the button. "Umm... this is squad one-one-one. We may have...we may have found something."

"What did you find? What are your coordinates?"

Another person in the unit immediately unfurled a paper, a map of the area, and plotted their exact coordinates. He darted over the commander and pointed to the pencil marks he had just made. The commander took the map and glanced down, a look of extreme uncertainty on his face. He quickly shot a glance back at the skin still lying limp and empty on the ground.

"We are at..." he swallowed. Sans could see his hands shaking as he glanced back at the paper to read out the coordinates.

Before he could speak another loud shriek echoed out through the trees, startling the men near the shore of the stream. They all jumped and several yelled out as they swung their guns in every direction, uncertain from where the shriek had arisen.

"Oh God, what was that?" The commanding officer said, not even realizing he still had the button depressed.

Sans looked from him to the woods and back again. "Sir, I really think we need to get out of here, Sir."

"Quiet yourself private, you're spooking the men!" The commander snapped.

"Hell, we're already spooked," one of the men said, an unsteady hand vibrating his rifle as it pointed towards the trees.

"Silence!" The commander warned again.

"Squad, what is your coordinates?" The voice on the radio demanded.

The commander pressed the button in again and glanced back at the paper.

"JESUS!" An officer shrieked and gunfire blared out through the woods.

"Get outta here!" Sans shouted as loud as he could over the sounds of frantic gunfire from three people.

He wasn't sure what they were shooting at. He did not see anything, but he knew they needed to leave immediately.

"Sir! Sir!" He begged his commander, "We must get out of here!"

Finally, the commander made a firm decision, calling for everyone to fall back as quick as they could.

Without delay, the men shot back down the trail. As they ran, Lewis couldn't help but feel that they were being followed, _pursued_. From time to time he would glance back over his shoulder. He had two men behind him, four in front. They were all shouting. The commander was trying to call into the radio as he ran. They came to a fork in the road and some started to the right, others went left.

"No! This way!" Sans shouted from the left side of the fork. "This way!"

The excited men bolted through the trees to join up with the other officers on the correct path. Lewis quickly turned his head to check on their progress as he and the two others darted down the trail.

Without thinking, he stopped in his tracks. There were only three men scrambling up the manicured trail. He could not see the squad's commanding officer. Uncertain of why he stopped, another man stopped alongside Lewis.

"What are you doing?" he asked quickly.

Sans stared onto the dark path expecting to see the commander come at any moment.

He did see something move from behind the trees. He could not make it out through the darkness, but it appeared as black as the shadows themselves. A loud hissing sound rose out from between the trees and Lewis was sure he could hear the sound of thumping feet running after them.

"Go!" Said the soldier next to him as he stood his ground and let gunfire pour out from the mouth of his weapon into the darkness.

"GO!"

Lewis turned and bolted, striving to catch up with the others that were now well ahead of him. He glanced over his shoulder; fearful curiosity driving him to look. The other officer had begun to move backwards as quickly as he could, maintaining fire at the trail in front of him, then he just fell.

Lewis squinted his eyes for a moment against the dark. Something was attacking the fallen officer. Something large and black and shiny. Its hide reflected in the glow of the spotlight. A satanic shriek rose from its mouth, piercing the night air and Lewis's body.

Without a second thought, he turned on his heels and bolted off down the pass with speed he didn't even know he possessed. His body was running full blast on adrenaline. He caught up with his group after some distance. Another wild shriek filled the woods and the remaining soldiers jumped with fright and turned to face the woods. Suddenly screams from another unit followed immediately by wild gunfire rang out through the trees. Five men stood in a circle, backs to one another, each shaking uncontrollably, their weapons jostling in their rattled hands.

"We need to keep moving." Sans said through clenched jaws. "We need to get back to the base. Keep moving," he reemphasized.

"Oh God," someone responded. "Oh God!"

The men turned. Something was emerging from the woods. The gunfire that echoed over the treetops began to die down, and only a few horrible screams of fear from the men and women sent out to search the woods for the little creatures were heard fading out until all fell quiet.

From the growing darkness between the trees a terrible sight began to take shape. Shiny black, the animal that emerged from the tree line out into the path in front of the men was no bear, nor dog, nor other woodly creature. It moved on four legs, but it was like no Earthly creature Lewis or any of the men had even so much as envisioned in their wildest nightmares.

It was not a man, but it did bear most it weight onto two large, heavily taloned hind legs. Its forearms groped the ground as it crept slowly forward, hissing from his long, slender head. Lewis stared at the horrible thing.

The whole night seemed to have crept to into slow motion. The monster moved towards them, its long barbed tail swishing behind it. The thing's tail alone was as long as any of the men that stood before it. The creature looked like some kind of shiny black twisted and contorted dinosaur that had crawled up from ancient pit of hell.

"Jesus Christ!" One shaken officer shouted.

In response, the dragon-like animal shrieked loudly, curling its black lips back to reveal a set of metallic looking teeth. The thing opened its mouth wide, tossed its head from side to side, and howled a call of death into the warm summer night air.

One of the men in front of Sans fired his gun madly at the black animal which promptly leapt with great ease off to the side, clenched hold of a tree and dove straight into the group. The men jumped back, shouting out with fear.

The closest man to the animal yelled wildly as the thing turned on him. It hissed savagely and, undeterred by the weapon fire, it charged right into the young officer, slamming him to the ground. He screamed at the top of his lungs and tried to wrestle himself loose from the large black creature that completely overshadowed him. In a moment, the man silenced and stopped moving.

"Run," Sans said quickly. "RUN!"

They could have stayed to fight, but that officer had fired off nearly an entire clip at the black monster and either he missed with every single shot, or the animal's hide was bulletproof. In either case, standing their ground did not seem like a good way to survive the next several minutes.

The four men all ran as absolutely quickly as they could. They ran so hard so fast that they had covered the entire trail back to the base in less than hour. Sans wasn't sure exactly at what point he had realized the black animal had no longer been in pursuit of them, but it didn't matter.

They were panicked, had limited weapons, no commander, and no radio, so the smartest place they could be right was back at the base. They stopped hard at the edge of the woods that bordered the exercise field. Massive amounts of gunfire filled their ears, accompanied by the all too familiar sounds of terrified men screaming for their lives.

"Oh my God," Sans muttered.

Under the lights of the base, he and the group with him could see panicked officers firing in nearly all directions. As the four men trotted across the field, Sans could see hints, shadows, looming after images of the monstrous black animals pass in and out of sight. He did see man after man drop to the ground. They reached the courtyard just as the base fell quiet.

The stench of gunpowder and some sort of sulfuric smell whisked by their nostrils as they knelt down to see who was alive and who was not. Davis Lyle saw Lewis coming through the cluttered space and jogged over to him. Sans was quietly evaluating a hole that had been cleaned through the pavement he was standing on.

"What the hell happened?" Sans asked as he saw his friend approach.

It was a foolish question. He knew exactly what had taken place. He had experienced it in the woods just a short time ago.

"Where's Melinda and Tyler?" Davis asked in response to Lewis's question.

Just then more gunfire echoed out over the trees in the distance and the base reverberated with the terrified screams of more troops still trapped in the woods.


	5. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER FOUR**

At six thirty on Monday morning the alarm clock blared, forcing a tired eyed Cassandra Reynolds from the luxury of her comfortable sheets. She stretched and sat up, whisking a lock of long hair away from her face.

The weekend had passed by, the celebrating of high school graduation was finished, and now it was time to start a new life, a life as a college bound adult. That also meant work. She had worked part time on a few evenings and one weekend day all throughout school, just enough to prove to her family that she could work responsibly and still allow her enough time for social activities.

Now, though, with no more school until the first term of college at the very end of August, Cassandra was deemed full-time capable which meant that Monday through Friday she work. She worked in a small upbeat fashion boutique in Manhattan. She liked her job and the people she worked with. She usually worked the closing shift, but the store's owner Dan, wanted her to learn day time duties instead for the summer so she could open shop in the morning.

She popped up out of bed and headed to the shower, wondering vaguely if she was going to have enough time to get dressed and get to the shop in time to start her shift. Cassandra began to shower, coming alive under the warm falling water.

She lathered her body with a wonderfully scented moisturizing body wash, gently massaging the suds with a loofa from her favorite spa. Her mind drifted a little to the past weekend's adventures and she couldn't help but to think about what had happened with Kyle at the party.

The bathroom filled with the aromatic scent of the herbal shampoo Cassandra worked into her deep locks. When she was finished, she patted herself dry with a warm fluffy towel and wrapped another around her body. She spent meticulous time drying her long hair, brushing it out, styling it to perfection and applying her make up with great care, analyzing the entire array of colors she had at her three fold mirror carefully to decide which would best match the smart outfit she planned to wear to her first morning shift day at work.

After the typical hour plus ordeal to dress herself, Cassandra floated lightly downstairs to find her aunt and uncle already dressed and preparing to begin their day. Her uncle was seated at the kitchen table, focused intently on the morning paper's front page and barely acknowledging the cup of coffee he clasped in his hand. Her aunt was standing at the counter, somewhat making breakfast but mostly eyeing the news broadcast on the iPad propped up on the counter.

As Cassandra walked over the refrigerator to grab a bite to eat, she noticed that the television was also on in the living room, with the volume turned way down. She thought nothing of it as she scanned for something to eat.

"Good morning," she finally said with a slightly offended tone in her voice that no one had bothered to even noticed she had graced the room.

"Morning dear. Getting ready for work?" Michelle said while Jeremy continued to scan the front page of the news paper.

"Yeah, all set, just getting something to eat. I don't want to be late you know." She said with a smile. "What's going on?"

"I don't know, Cassandra. There's this thing all over the news this morning. Just watching to see that's all." She said.

Cassandra didn't ask for any more details. She just grabbed the milk and cereal and sat down across from her uncle, who still hadn't even acknowledged that she was in the room, nor taken a sip from his coffee cup as long as she had been standing. Jeremy was the type of person to have at least sucked down two full cups in this amount of time. She frowned and ate her breakfast quietly.

"I don't think anyone knows exactly what happened. It's just so weird." Michelle said aloud.

Cassandra did not respond and Jeremy finally flipped the page of the paper.

"Morning, Cassandra. You be careful out there today, alright?" He said to her then turned his eyes

to the paper once again.

"Yes, please do be careful." Michelle agreed.

She nodded and finished eating her bowl of cereal. "You guys are creeping me out," she said flatly as she put her bowl into the dishwasher.

"Bye."

She strode out the door. The morning sun was shining down and the roar of a city that was

already in full swing met her ears.. Cassandra immediately grabbed the phone out of her little purse and speed dialed Stephanie.

A groggy voice on the other end groaned, "Hello?"

"Hey there! What are you doing?"

"Trying to sleep, what's up Cass?"

"You know it's almost eight o'clock. Didn't you say you have work at nine?"

"Ten," Stephanie corrected. "Or maybe eleven. I don't' remember."

Cassandra laughed, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Stephanie said, starting to wake up. "I spent most of the night with David."

"Really? Oh…."

"You Ok? I mean after what happened with Kyle…" Stephanie asked.

"Yea, I'm fine, you know, just forget it." Cassandra stopped her abruptly and quickly changed the conversation.

"Hey, I'm getting into the train now, I'll probably loose your signal. I'll call you later, alright?"

"Cassy? Okay fine, call me after work. We'll meet up. I'm off at five."

"Cool. Bye." She said and flicked the phone closed as she popped into the subway and found a vacant seat.

The train was packed as usual for a Monday. She took the train almost everyday to get to school. For some reason, Mondays always were the busiest day of the week. It was always like that. The train was full of commuters, mostly everyone wrapped up in their newspapers. Cassandra did a quick glance at how they were dressed.

It seemed that all of the people were on their way to offices. She was surrounded by business suits this morning. It was like a sea of navy blue and pinstripes all around her. She waited quietly for the train to come to a halt at her stop. She stood up and joined the crowed hoarding off the train and flowed with them out onto the platform.

As she walked up the stairs she could hear the hustle of the busy streets above her head as people vied for first rights to cross the street. Pedestrians and vehicles lived in delicate balance around the city. Massive crowds would cross an intersection in each direction, never giving way to traffic and traffic never really yielding to them. It was dangerous sometimes trying to push your way around cars trying to push past you.

Still, it was New York, and Cassandra knew anything could and would happen in the City limits. If you wanted to get anywhere, you needed to be here. Cassandra loved the city. She needed the city. Someday, she imagined being needed by the City, too, or at least by the fashion concerned people in it. Some of the people she passed by right as she walked would want to buy her designs and she would be able to elevate up the scale of success.

She fantasized about it as she forged on with a large crowd, trying hard not to bump into people as she crossed the streets. She paced quickly along the busy street, never really looking up at the high rise buildings that surrounded her. They were just part of the scenery, just part of what made the city glorious and miserable all at the same time. She kept her eye instead, on the people in the streets rushing about, hailing taxis, all trying to get to their particular high rise buildings without running late.

The heat was welling up already in the steamy city, and the weathermen's predictions of a long hot summer seemed like they would be coming true. Cassandra glanced at her cell phone to check the time. Deciding she had enough time she stopped into a small crowded shop to grab an iced cappuccino to cool off with during her walk to work.

There, too, she noticed that nearly everyone, standing or sitting, was intently bent over their newspapers, and hardly anyone had flipped passed the front page. Though the small shop was busy and crowded with people, the place still seemed oddly quiet. People at the counter whispered their orders, and Cassandra suddenly realized that almost no one in the shop was using a cell phone. Nearly every person was so involved with their newspapers, hardly a soul spoke. It was an unusual feeling, and a rather unsettling one actually.

It was just day to day expectation that people would be talking on their phones, flipping through the pages of their newspapers, working on last minute business reports, and doing all the other things she always noticed busy adults do as they sat in small coffee shops. It was strange, the way the place was almost still as people read their papers and sipped their coffees. She just couldn't imagine what was so astounding that all the people she looked at this morning had their faces buried deep into their papers and were so wrapped up with the articles they read that they actually put aside their business journals and cell phones.

Cassandra didn't have enough time to linger. She ordered, paid, and left sipping her drink as she walked through the open door back out onto the street. She vaguely thought for a moment that she might stop by a newspaper stand on the next corner and pick up a morning issue to read for herself what all the commotion was about, but as she tried to peek through the crowd that was gathered around the stand, she could see nothing but empty shelves in between the milling bodies. It appeared that they had bought every single paper.

Shrugging, she turned and walked another half block and stopped in front of the tall glass doors that led into Hi Style, Dan Sherk's upbeat fashion boutique. She strode in at just a minute after nine o'clock. She noticed that she was late and made a mental note to try to speed things up tomorrow. Dan did not seem to appear to notice or care that she was a moment behind schedule.

"Morning," she said to him as she breezed by him.

"Morning," he responded, hardly looking up from the newspaper he had plastered to the glass display case.

He did not sound quite like his usual chipper self. The greeting he gave her was very quiet and solemn. It was rare, if at all, that Cassandra had ever seen Dan in a less than hyper-active mood.

He was a nice man, very high strung and animated, friendly as could be, and a dream to work for. Dan was a very handsome thirty-something man who enjoyed partying, fashion, and generally having a good time. He seemed to seek out those characteristics in people, especially in his employees, so he had a composed a wonderful crew of eager people.

Cassandra pondered for a moment how Dan even met and had a relationship with Robert. He was Dan's complete opposite. She supposed that was true, opposites really did attract. Robert was short, hefty, much more business-like, and almost always in a hurry. She had actually only met him once, but hearing Dan talk about him from time to time at the shop was enough for Cassandra to know she did not like him, and thought Dan could do better. Not that she was all that experienced with boyfriends anyway.

"What's up, Dan?" She said to him when she finished punching in the time clock in the break room justbehind the counter.

He shook his head, glanced at her and smiled, the chipperness returning to his voice.

"Oh, nothing! Ready to learn how to open shop?"

"Yeah, sure," she said promptly with a smile.

"Well," he said with a quick gesture to the computer that worked the register. "It's really pretty easy to start up the computer for the morning, you'll get it in no time. Just look here."

Dan was correct, the start up procedure for the computer inventory and cash register really only took a few minutes to show her. Everything else was basically the opposite of what she would do to close shop at night.

She went off to straighten racks, fold clothes and make sure the store was tidy and neat. She glanced from the display shelves to the mannequins in the window and imagined them all wearing designer tags from Cassandra Limited. Of course she hadn't discussed that name with Stephanie, but it had a nice ring to it.

The first few customers of the day came in just around ten o'clock, just about the same time that two coworkers, Jennifer and Risi walked in to start their shifts.

"Hey!" Cassandra greeted them.

"Morning!" The girls echoed.

As customers shopped around through out most of the morning, the three girls made their presence known so they help the shoppers select the perfect garments. They all talked from time to time about their weekends and other topics. Cassandra filled in the girls about her graduation and the party and the apartment's progress.

No one mentioned anything about newspapers until well after the lunch hour during a lull in the shop's customers. The three girls mingled around the counter with Dan and gossiped for a while before Risi saw the New York Times out of the corner of her eye, tucked under the counter.

"So what do you guys think about all that in the paper?" She asked quietly, scanning the room to make sure no one was around.

The way the small group all huddled around the countertop, and the way Dan backhandedly slid the paper out from the hiding space he slipped it into earlier in the day, Cassandra felt like they were discussing some top secret plan or making arrangement to rob a bank or something. The attitude and atmosphere changed dramatically and Cassandra, feeling highly uneducated at the moment dared not speak. She just slid her hand to the paper and glanced down as the others spoke.

"I don't know what to think." Dan said. "I'm just glad that this hasn't happened here."

"It's just all so weird," Jennifer added with a twisted look on her face.

Cassandra stared at the giant bold print headline of the Monday morning paper:

 _Animal Attacks - Threat to Humans, Animals_

Cassandra frowned and began to read the article, paying no further attention to the continuing conversation of the other three people.

The first line of the article read:

 _Atlanta, GA. (AP) Nearly a dozen people admitted into Atlanta's Memorial Hospital Saturday afternoon suffering injuries from an animal attack, were reported dead on Sunday. The animal has not yet been identified._

The opening sentence was abrupt, mysterious, and drove deep into Cassandra's sense of curiosity. She immediately understood why it seemed that no one could put the paper down this morning. As she continued to read, the article informed her that reports of the same nature had popped up overnight on the weekend in several states.

She started to feel her hands shake as read deeper into the article. There were small groups of people showing up in hospitals all across the country from Saturday morning on all through the weekend.

Fatalities were being reported and it appeared that no one seemed to know what to make of the species, determined to be a parasite. Another article, though shorter than the main headline, talked about military involved and even a possible terrorist attack.

It made sense now, why no one could put their papers down. Cassandra caught herself glancing back at the paper throughout the rest of the afternoon as it lay rolled up in its hiding place under the counter top. While the report on the front page was on the back of everyone's minds, Dan did not want to upset his shoppers by reminding them of what they had most likely already read about that morning. So there was no more discussion of the topics in the daily news the rest of that day.

When her shift ended at five o'clock, Cassandra left the clothing store and headed off again onto the city streets. She called Stephanie almost instantly to see if she was around somewhere so they could meet. The news article she had read earlier was still lingering on her mind. She talked briefly with Stephanie and they came up with a place to meet.

She couldn't help but to notice as she walked that people were hoarded around newspaper stands once again. The evening edition was no doubt out already, though Cassandra could not tell by the behavior of the people on the streets if there was any more eerie news. She decided to march on past the crowded stands. She did not want to know any more about weird animal attacks.

When the girls met up they did a little shopping and zero discussing of the daily news. They laughed and enjoyed some time together and oddly enough, as they rounded a corner, they nearly walked into David, Kyle, and the rest of the Whizzkids.

"Hey," they all exchanged.

Cassandra shot Stephanie a suspicious, 'did you plan this' glance, but she smiled none the less and they all headed off together. Kyle tried to talk to Cassandra, but she brushed him off over and over.

They chatted over some pizza, and the conversation headed into forbidden territory in Cassandra's mind. In a moment most of the group was discussing the news reports. Cassandra fell quiet. She let her eyes wander and her mind tried hard to shut out the sounds of the conversation. The details of the animal attack were unsettling, and while they may be interesting for a group of macho guys to talk about in the middle of a pizza shop, Cassandra wanted no part of that which did not concern her life.

Her eyes drifted around the restaurant, and she began to notice that, though there were not many people in the place, all the customers and the wait staff seemed to be staring above Cassandra's head. Her heart stopped for a moment and she turned to have a look behind her, an odd instant fear that some horrible animal was behind her ready to pounce on her.

The group at her table had quieted down as well and stared at the television behind the counter. One man behind the counter reached up and adjusted the volume as some people crept a little closer to the monitor so they could see better or hear more clearly. Cassandra could see and hear just fine from where she sat.

The evening news reporter brought in announcements of more deaths from different parts of the country throughout the day as well as more animal attacks. The descriptions were vague, which only added to the fear that many of the people watching the reports felt. Now, officials were offering warnings to individuals that may come across any sort of strange looking animals during their daily coming and goings, not to approach the creatures.

It wasn't very clear to the broadcaster, or to the people watching, where one might come across the reported strange looking crab like creatures, so it was recommended that all use caution. The report came across more as a public service announcement, but the lack of descriptions, the uncertainty in the announcer's voice and the look on her face put a bad feeling in Cassandra's gut.

Whatever it was, whatever the animals were, she had just hoped that they would stay out of New York City. However, it was too late for that. When the commercials came on and the worker turned the volume down, someone else in the room started up loudly.

"There's been people hospitalized here in New York with these things on them," he said to anyone who would prick an ear at him.

"Where did you hear that?" Peter asked.

The man rattled a folded newspaper at their table. "Right here."

Peter immediately whipped out his phone and pulled up the news. He stayed quiet while he scanned over the articles popping up before him. No one at the table spoke while Peter read. Cassandra focused on a small piece of pizza crust littered on the table in front of her, Stephanie continued to fondle David's arm while he and the rest of the band watched Pete read.

"Says here that a group of workers were brought into a downtown hospital. Doesn't say which one, though."

"Does it say where they were working?" Kyle asked.

Pete shook his head slightly. "No, it doesn't really give a whole lot of information. This is wild, though," he said, with an almost unconcerned smile on his face.

"There's a report here that says some guy's dog got killed by one of those things. And it goes on to say that a few other animals have been found dead, including two lions in Central Park Zoo.

"Look, I'm gonna get going," Cassandra said and stood from her chair quickly.

Stephanie got up and followed her out. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, sorry, I... I just don't want to hear anymore about this, you know."

Stephanie nodded her head. "Yeah, I know. It's really creepy. Come on, I walk with you to the train stop."

Cassandra smiled, grateful for the company of her friend. It did not take long for the two girls to reach the train station. There, Cassandra wished her friend goodnight and headed briskly down the stairs. She just couldn't get home fast enough.

She crawled into bed under the safety and security of her ice blue bed sheets and soon fell into a dreamless sleep.

When morning came, Cassandra awoke refreshed, without a negative thought in her mind. She ran through her morning drill of a shower, hair styling, make-up application, and finally dressed. She didn't even realize that her morning ritual had taken her a fair bit longer than normal that morning. She must have just been moving slower.

At any rate she bolted out of the house with barely a goodbye to her relatives and took off as quickly as she could for the train into the city. She was running late again and had had no time to stop for any reason this morning, but she chatted quickly with her mother for a short while.

She arrived at the clothing store just before nine o'clock and dropped her belongings in the break room before punching in. Dan was there already there to help Cassandra with opening the store. He seemed perky and content and Cassandra smiled appreciatively at him that he was not hovering over a newspaper again.

However, there was almost no escaping the news. The radio that played softly over the store's speakers broke out in news reports at an ever increasing rate throughout the day, each time a worried sounding announcer would report that yet more people were turning up attacked by the strange animals.

Some of the announcements told that teams of researchers were trying to study the animals, trying to determine where they had come from and what to do about them now that they were here. Some reports called them wild animals, other reports called the parasites. Regardless, every report called them deadly.

As the day went on, the radio broadcasts revealed that all of the reported attacks resulted in fatalities. Cassandra listened to one news update in silence. It was obvious the announcer was trying to read his story as plainly as possible. The monotone voice did not do well to hide the man's concerns and fears, or to keep those fears from welling up in the people in the clothing shop that literally stopped in mid motion and tune their ears to the closest speaker.

Details were not given on exactly how all the people died, but the general public was receiving reassurances that officials were doing everything they could to ensure that no more attacks occurred. Whatever that meant.

"Wow," Risi said as a commercial aired over the speakers. "This is sounding so bad."

"I'm afraid to go into the subway, I swear," Jennifer added.

Wide eyed, Cassaandra quickly asked, "What? Why? Are they in the subway or something?"

"No," Jennifer said as she shrugged. "It's just dark down there, and... I'm sorry Cassandra, I know you take the trains all the time. I didn't mean anything. Don't worry, it's fine."

Her reassurances did not much console Cassandra. She tried not to think about it anymore and focused on organizing an already well organized display shelf. As she fiddled idly with the clothing, her mind kept bouncing from the reports about death and strange animals.

Whatever they were, had been spotted in New York City, their victims could still be laying in a hospital not all that far away right at that very moment.

As though unable to control herself she turned to her coworkers and spoke.

"The ones they found in the City, does anyone know where the people got...attacked?"

No one answered. Dan shook his head. "The papers didn't say."

She sighed deeply and couldn't help but think about what Jennifer had said about using the subways. It played on her mind throughout the rest of the afternoon and when her shift was done, Cassandra headed home as quickly as possible.

She called Stephanie on the way to the entrance to the subway and left a message on her voicemail saying that she wasn't feeling very much in the mood to be out in the City that night. She told her friend that she was feeling freaked out by the reports of the wild animals and that she was now nervous to use to go underground, but she needed to take the train home, and just wanted to as quickly as possible.

She darted down the stairs quickly and kept careful watch around her. As she sat on the uncomfortable seat and watched the tunnel walls zip by the windowed sides of the train, she felt so silly for being so worried about using the subway train.

She took them every day so she knew they were safe. The whole thing was getting out of hand. People were just scared and probably the news reports were over exaggerated anyway. More likely than not in a few more days the whole thing would blow over and by early next week, people would be taking about how silly they were getting so worked up over crabs.

She sat in the living room with her family that evening for a while, reading some articles about fashion and glamour and home decor. She happily let her mind drift to the apartment she and Stephanie would be moving into in less than a week and a half.

"Cassandra," her Uncle Jeremy spoke after a long while, "I think you should reconsider moving in to that apartment."

She stared at him with such a shock looked of dismay upon her face. Michelle looked up.

"I mean it," he said, "I'm concerned. Wouldn't you rather be at home with us with all this happening?"

"I..." She couldn't think of what to say. She wanted to move. It was going to be so cool having that top floor apartment in Manhattan with her friend. She just wanted to move in there.

She hated the idea of telling new people she would meet during the first few days of college that she lived with her mother's sister. She wanted to live right where all the action was. In her defense, she said the only thing she could come up with.

"You know, this will probably all be blown over soon. It's all nothing, you'll see." She hoped she sounded as carefree and convincing as she wanted to.

Jeremey smirked and said no more. Just then the telephone rang. Michelle answered it and quickly handed it over to Cassandra.

"Hello?" She said.

It was her parents on the other end. Somehow Cassandra felt as though her Uncle's ploy at the apartment was the first stage of a pre-planned attack on the idea. Now she had to hear about the apartment from the other end of the country.

Her parents tried to convince Cassandra to forget about the apartment, too. They finally asked if she just wanted to forget it all and come back hom to Sacramento. According to her mother, there were many a fine school out there, and people out there did wear and need clothes too. She could follow her dreams back home just the same as there in the Big City.

"No Mom, it's not the same thing." Cassandra argued from the next room through gritted teeth.

She glanced over the bar at her aunt and uncle who were now tuned intently in to the evening news.

"It's not the same at all. Plus I'm enrolled and everything, I'd lose out on my chance, and I'd have to wait till next year to start school somewhere else. I really want this."

There was silence on the other end. She could only hear the sounds of her parents' breathing

through the phone.

Cassandra waited for a moment for any sort of acknowledgement. When she received none, she continued, trying to take the conversation away from the idea of her leaving New York, abandoning the apartment and her friends and her plans for college and a great career in the fashion field.

"Besides," she started back up, "I know the news reports make it sound like it's chaos around here or something, but nothing's happened at all. There's nothing going on. It's fine, really. Nothing is wrong, and nothing bad's gonna happen. It'll all be fine, I know it."

Unable to sway their child's mind, Cassandra's parents gave up the fight.

"I hope you're right, really, I do," her Father said.

"Just remember Cassandra, nothing has happened out here, either. Sacramento isn't even on the list of affected areas."

Cassandra wasn't aware that there was a list of affected areas. The radio broadcasters she had

been listening two over the last two days did announce several cities that had confirmed animal attacks, but her mother made it sound like there was some official government issued list of affected areas.

She was grateful for her parents' concern, but she was days away from being a free adult and the last thing she wanted was to give it all up and fly home to California. She sighed deeply as she clicked the phone off and sat back down in front of the television to watch the news reports.

Nothing really new had come up. Mostly, the reports were filled with speculating about what the animals were and where they came from.

"I wonder what the things look like?" Michelle said as she watched a man on the television rattle on about the crab like animals. "I mean, they keep talking all about them, but they don't show any pictures."

Cassandra did not want to see what they looked like. She hoped they would not show any

pictures, she hoped they would just stop talking about all the deaths and stop discussing the nature of the

animals that had caused them. She headed up to her room and called Stephanie.

Eventually Cassandra fell asleep. She had a restless night and woke up very early the next

morning with thoughts on her mind of the animals. She tried to eradicate them from her thoughts by focusing on the apartment.

She and Stephanie had planned to do some shopping that afternoon and pick up a few little things. Both girls were making piles of apartment supplies in their rooms.

She was awake but still restless. It was very early and Michelle and Jeremy were just getting up. Cassandra had already showered and meticulously detailed every aspect of her body, nails, face, and hair before entering the kitchen to make herself a light breakfast while her family walked back and forth above her head.

She paced in the kitchen and glance for a moment at the television as though it was planning to do something evil while she ate her fruit. She shut her eyes and tipped her head sideways, noting that the clock on top the refrigerator declared the time to be just after seven in the morning.

Just as Jeremy and Michelle were coming downstairs, Cassandra had decided to head into the City. She did not want to just sit around watching the news. She could not take seeing Jeremy sit and read the morning paper so intently once again.

"You're leaving already?" Her Aunt asked quickly.

"Uh, yeah, I just want to get an early start at the store today. We're having a sale and I need to go in a little early to help Dan get things ready."

It wasn't exactly a total lie. They really were starting with a sale today, and it would take a while to set up for it, but there was no reason for her to go in early because of it. She decided it would not be to her benefit at all to mention that she was not able to rest because of all the recent news stories and the harassing conversation she had to deal with from her parents trying to sway her mind to come home.

"Bye," she said as she stepped out of the door. She intentionally walked right over the newspaper that lay furled up on the welcome mat. She did not glance down at it.

Their house was not far from the train station, so it did not take her long at all to reach her destination. She hopped onto the train when it arrived, amongst a small group of commuters.

The train, packed as usual, zoomed over the tracks and into the heart of the city. Again, people were consumed with the newspapers. Cassandra could feel great tension amongst the passengers and her heart started to beat faster. She was uncomfortable with the feeling in the warm morning air as she stepped off the train at the end of her route.

She pranced quickly up the stairs to find a large crowd gathered on the street corner, all starting up at the headline marquees that ran along the buildings. She forced herself not to glance up; instead, her eyes fell to the newspaper that a pedestrian was holding as he read the lighted banners.

Cassandra caught herself staring at the paper. She could not quite make out what the front page said; it was folded over itself in such a way that she could only see less than half of the bottom of the page. It was enough to peak her curiosity, though. She headed off across the street in the direction of the latte shop she stopped at frequently on her way to work, but instead, she walked right past its doors and came to halt behind a crowd at a newspaper stand.

Figuring they would sell out, Cassandra pushed her way through the barely unmovable people and glanced down at the shelves for a copy of the paper. She took a deep breath and stopped in her tracks and just stared. She could not reach down and grab the paper, not move to her purse to pull out two dollars to pay for it. She couldn't do anything. Just like the other people frozen there in awe and wonder, Cassandra just stared at the ghastly image that filled the entire front page of the newspaper.

The only words written on the page was the title of the paper, the date, 'Morning Special Edition', and in teeny tiny letters at the very bottom margin of the page was written, 'Story, Page 2'. The image took up every other space on the page. Cassandra felt her body starting to shake as she pressed her eyebrows together and stared at the paper.

The black and white photo of the creature on the front page looked like something out of a science fiction novel and not of this Earth. She had never, never, imagined that the crab-like creature would like that.

With the news reports over the last few days, all describing the thing as a spindly legged crab animal as large as a man's head, her mental image of the creature had differed greatly from the creature she was staring at in the black and white.

Someone reached down and pulled the paper out of her eyesight, paid for it and scrambled away. Cassandra watched him do it as though he had just trespassed and committed a mortal sin. He darted away like he was running off with a booty and Cassandra watched him come to a slamming halt as he stared down at the paper, just a few steps away.

She glanced back at the stand and realized quickly that there was but one copy left. Without hesitation, she lunged for the paper and snatched it up, noticing another man look rather displeased that he missed his chance. She quickly grabbed out two dollars and darted off past the crowd before she looked down at the page again.

This animal was nothing like what her brain could process. It didn't look like it even belonged on this planet. The creature was on its back, its legs curled up over its belly and folded together. It was obviously dead, but even in death the thing was frightening.

She counted eight long, slender satanic looking legs knitted together in mortis over the indefinable body of the animal. Perhaps it was the creature's tail, which though curled slightly around in the picture looked as though it must have been well over three feet long unto itself, that added to the overall menacing feel of the animal.

The terrible looking monster just lay there on the page in front of her, lifeless and dimensionless, but still her hands were shaking, rattling the edges of the paper she clenched to. She stopped, like nearly everyone else on the street, and stared at the image, studying its every morbid detail. Finally she folded the front page back and read the article

Listed as being reported from Arizona, the image, the first one leaked to the press, of the animal, was taken at a hospital just outside of Phoenix. The animal in the photo was lying in the morgue, getting ready to be dissected by a team of biological researchers.

She read on and found a list of area affected, it took up all of page three and started over onto page four. The newspaper article mentioned that the animals seemed to have simply showed up overnight in multiple areas across the country, and across the globe with no explanation, lest one. Worldwide terrorism.

Cassandra's heart sank. Of course. Terrorists. It must have been that. America had suffered many terrorism attempts, and some completed assaults. Terrorists were responsible for car bombs, the devastation of the Twin Towers when Cassandra was a little girl still living in Sacramento.

About five years ago a terrorist strike in the western states caused loss of power to seven states on the West Coast for three days. It did have a major impact on people's way of life, the economy, and the hearts of the American people.

Now, it seemed that they had moved on from bombings and sabotage and resorted to trying biological weaponry again. They had caused a several month long scare over anthrax years ago. This was nothing different. These animals were obviously aggressive. They had caused many fatalities in just a few days and managed to shake to soul of a country.

The article questioned what the President's actions might be against this terrorist threat, and ended on the note that the reporter would continue to provide her readers with any and all information as she found it out.

She folded the paper up and strode off to the shop. Dan tuned the radio to a light music station to try to keep the atmosphere within the shop happy and care free, still, though the crew talked amongst themselves when shoppers were not around, each discussing the creature they had all seen pasted on the front page of the paper this morning.

By the end of the day when Cassandra had met up with Stephanie, both girls were tired of hearing all the talk about the creatures. They were tired of constantly being made nervous throughout the day, they made a pact that night to not talk about the creatures anymore. Instead, the girls did their shopping and enjoyed their night.

It wasn't until the weekend that the worst report of all came over every news station everywhere. Every media modality from the radio to satellite broadcasting to the internet played the same news story.

It began with the Presidential address to the nation. He forewarned his fellow Americans that while the animal incident was not being declared a terrorist bioweapon, it appeared now that they were indeed some kind of new, possibly mutated, parasite.

He informed the Country that the military was going to take measures to get the animals under control while the research into them progressed. He urged people to use extreme caution if their day to day activities took them to any of the affected areas, but maintained that the American way of life need not be disrupted, reiterating that measures were being taken to get the situation under control.

When he was finished, the President gave the podium to a researcher from the Center for Disease Control, who delved into defining the animal as a newly discovered species of parasite. He admitted that the creatures did indeed utilize other living creature to propagate and that those creatures included, but we not limited to, large dogs, wild cats, horses, cattle, other large animals and human beings.

Another official took the stand and read off from a growing list of areas that had been affected with the animals. The press frenzy after the speech was insane. Every reporter in the large briefing room that Cassandra was watching on television stood and shouted out their questions, each hoping to get the chance to have their questions answered.

The uniformed man behind the microphone only picked on three reporters. The first asked about the reports from other countries that the animals had shown up in at the exact same time, and questioned how it not be considered terrorism, asking if they thought the animals just dropped out of the sky.

The official pursed his lips and simply said, "I can not confirm or deny reports from other countries at this time, but we are considering all possibilities at this time."

Cassandra wondered for a moment what exactly that meant. If they weren't thinking that this was terrorism, did he mean to suggest that the government was open to the possibility that these animals really did just drop from the sky?

"We have all seen the pictures now of the quote unquote 'face hugging parasites'. If those creatures are the hatchlings from the eggs, what is laying the eggs?" Another reporter asked logically.

Cassandra perked up more, holding her breath even harder. It was a good question, and one she did not think of before. The man behind the podium gripped the sides of the little wooden stand and avoided answering that question all together.

"The animals' life cycle is still being determined at this time," he said and quickly picked another reporter.

It was something that in all this time Cassandra had not even thought about. Discussions were ever rampant about the eggs that people just magically came across. Some reports even stated that near every eggs site was some kind of all terrain vehicle that may have been used by the terrorists to deliver the eggs across the country.

Now that the animals were running loose around the country unchecked, and apparently breeding at an exponential rate, something had to be producing more eggs.

It couldn't possibly be the face hugging creatures. What an awful term, Cassandra thought as her mind drifted. Face Hugger. The words sounded repulsive when coined together, because it put the mental image of the ghastly little monster whose image had been printed in the paper a few days ago and reprinted every day thereafter, clenched over someone's face suffocating them. It made her lips purse.

Still, the face hugger creatures were the hatchlings. They were the babies from the eggs. They attached themselves to a human, or animal, and as had been reported, the things simply fell off and died after about twelve hours. If that was the case, then that could mean only two things. Either the creature couldn't survive parasitizing humans or animals, or that the things were using the humans and animals to reproduce.

Somehow parasite did not seem like the right word to describe this animal. Parasites, in Cassandra's mind, were like worms that dogs and cats get. A quick little pill or drop of some juice onto their backs and the parasites were gone. You never really saw them in the first place, they were just there, and could slowly, over time, cause the animal to suffer and maybe die. But these creatures were something totally different. They were vicious monsters that aggressively attacked anything that came near them. Normal parasites don't outright attack, they just live, she thought.

It was too much to think about. She focused back on the television and thought she saw several reporters in the room trying to calculate out similar theories in their heads. The third reporter called on shouted out without hesitation.

"Will the country, or the affected area at least, be put on quarantine, Sir?"

The room fell utterly quiet and all eyes turned back to the podium. Cassandra sat up a bit and she noticed her aunt and uncle shuffle in their seats as well.

"There is no reason to consider that a necessary course of action at this time," he answered politically.

As the room exploded again with shouts from the crowd, and mostly everyone's hand shot back up

in the air the uniformed officer excused himself from the stage stating that he had answered all the questions he had time for.

Cassandra disappeared to her room after the broadcast had finished. She noticed that instead of returning to regular programming, the national announcement got followed up instead by local television channels broadcasting their own debates and thoughts about what they had just heard. Cassandra paid it no more attention.

She let her mind shift to more pleasant things and soon fell asleep.


	6. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER FIVE**

Murray could not believe how much his life had changed over the last week alone. The seven victims that had presented into his hospital last Saturday morning were all dead by that Sunday afternoon and all week long people were bombarded with news reports about mysterious animals and grizzly deaths all over the country.

In smaller detail, mounting missing persons reports were also touched upon, and wild assumptions that it was all related abounded all over the Internet. It was all a little like something right out of a horror story. I was almost too surreal to believe.

He thought back to standing in the room with one of his patients complaining of chest pain. The police officer had developed a raspy cough and Murray's first, obvious, thought was that he developed pneumonia from the encounter with the strange creature. He listened to the man's lungs with a stethoscope, strained his ears again and again, hearing sounds that he never heard before.

"You do have...harsh lung sounds... I think you may be coming down with pneumonia," he said to the man as he coughed. "I want to get a radiograph of your chest to see if there's anything visible in the lungs, then we'll more than likely start you on some antibiotics."

He smiled confidently to the officer and his wife, who was standing at her husband's side with a supportive hand on his shoulder.

The officer nodded in understanding, put his fist to his mouth continued to cough into it as Murray looked out the door of the hospital room and called to the nearest nurse.

"I want to get a chest series on Officer James here." Hearing the man cough deeply once again, he tapped the nurse on the shoulder as she turned away and raised his eyebrows. "Now."

The nurse had nodded and moved off with more haste to call the radiology department. Just then Richardson had come bolting out of another room, followed quickly by a frantic woman.

"Carlos," Richardson said as he slid to a halt in front of Murray, "the boy's having...a seizure or something."

Just as Murray and Richardson were turning to step into action, a horrified scream from the police officer's room rang out. Murray darted back into that room while Richardson and a team of nurses took off again into the seizing boy's room.

Unnoticed by either of the busy doctors, help was being paged to the five other rooms all lined on both sides of the corridor. The hospital floor suddenly just jumped into activity, but for Murray, the world was slowing down.

He reached down and tried his best to support the officer, whose head was lolling around atop his neck as though it was ready to fall off. He was spitting out blood from his mouth and nose and more blood began to seep out of his tear ducts and ear canals. His wife was sobbing hysterically and as nurses entered the room as well, Murray shouted for someone to get the petrified woman out of the room.

The man contorted his body so sharply he ripped himself loose from Murray's grip and slammed backward across the bed, gagging to death on his own blood. Murray jumped up and reached for the man, but came to a halt when he saw the white hospital gown turn blood soaked red at the man' chest.

Murray squeezed his eyes shut, dropped the pen out of his hand and pinched his eyes with a great sigh. He pushed the papers aside that he had been working, unable to concentrate on them. He could not clear his mind of that horrid day.

When the man's chest blew open and that monstrous little creature emerged, that man's wife was still in the room. Murray's mind filled up once again with the high pitched screams from the panicked woman. He could not get past what he saw that day, he also could not get past his own actions. He did nothing, he just stood there, mortified, and watched the police officer die.

Despite the reports he had been reading and hearing for the last week, he was unable to sway his guilty conscience. Part of him knew that there really was nothing he could have done to help the man. Of course hindsight was always perfect. The odd little anomaly he had found on the scans of all seven people was in fact, the growing animal.

The creature had only utilized less than twenty four hours inside their human hosts. It occurred to Murray as he sat at his desk that it was the specific purpose of the crab hatchling to impregnate the human, or animal as the news reports stated, with the embryo of whatever it was that had burst through the man's chest.

He began to wonder, if given the chance all over again if surgery might those people. It was

proven not possible to remove the face hugging creature, but perhaps it would be possible to remove the growing organism from the chests of the victims.

Murray sighed. There was no going back, there was no doing it over again. Now, he was just left the aftermath of the situation. He was being sued by the families of the victims, sued for the loss of life and sued for emotional damages. He had consulted his lawyer all throughout the week since first receiving notification of the legal action.

He strongly urged Murray to pursue the case and not settle. The situation was so unusual no court could possibly find him guilty. Murray felt that settling was the better option, but he feared that either way he would lose his position at the hospital.

Seven lawsuits would eat them all alive. No doubt many of his employees had already figured that out. He received daily updates all week from his head staff that many nurses and a few doctors simply stopped showing up for work. Murray was sure they had left to find employment in hospitals that weren't doomed by lawsuits.

He sat quietly at his desk, head resting on his hand and shut his eyes, trying hard to find something good to think about when a knock came on his door.

Richardson opened the door, looking solemn and tired. "There's something...you really might want to see."

Frowning, Murray stood up, glad for the distraction but still wary that this would be something awful. "What's going on?"

Richardson opened his mouth to speak, but shut it again. "It's probably just easier to see. Follow me."

The two men walked down the hallway, into the elevator and down to the lowest level of the hospital. There wasn't much on the very bottom floor, just some storage rooms, the morgue, a few diagnostic labs and mostly janitorial supplies. Murray thought about questioning Richardson again, but he remained silent.

The elevator doors opened and the two men stepped out. They walked down the brightly lit blue gray corridor, past the large stainless door that led into the morgue and around a corner. There they joined with a large group of people all piled outside one of the janitorial rooms. Murray and Richardson pushed their way through into the room, which was so packed with people they could barely move.

"What the hell?" Murray said as his eyes set upon a very large hole in the back wall of the room.

He walked closer to it as many of the employees, noticing that Murray had entered the room now, backed off. The room fell quiet.

"Be careful," someone said from the crowd.

Murray gave Richardson a questioning look and Richardson shook his head.

"Apparently somebody sent a janitor down here to get some supplies. He never came back."

The men turned again to the hole in the wall.

"Why the hell did he punch a hole in the wall?" Murray questioned.

Richardson shook his head, "I have no idea. Who heard the banging?" He asked again out into the crowd. Another employee reluctantly raised his hand.

"I did. I heard this loud crash. I sounded like... like a car drove through the building or something. I think he fell through the wall or something. Opened the door and saw all that." The man explained.

"And where is he now?" Murray asked, figuring on what the answer was going to be, but hoping that perhaps the man just ran out of the building instead.

The man just shook his head slowly from side to side. 'Don't know, just saw the blood all over the floor and ran for help."

Murray didn't even notice. His eyes had been too fixed on the hole in the wall the entire time. His shoes were directly in a small puddle of blood just at the mouth of the hole. He exchanged a glance with Richardson and stuck his head through the hole.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a tiny pen light. It barely lit the darkness, but Murray could feel cool air. He felt like he looking into the mouth of a deep dark cave.

"Here," Richardson said.

Murray looked back and grabbed the flashlight he was being offered. "Thanks."

The bright light made visibility a little easier. Richardson soon joined in with another flashlight. As both men shined the lights through the large opening, they realized quickly that there was something like a shaft that dropped straight down below their feet.

"It must go down forty feet. Must lead to the subway...or something, you think?" Richardson whispered.

Murray peered up and side to side before looking back down. "I don't know, but..." he hesitated.

"What?" Richardson prompted quickly.

"Well, if the janitor...let's just say he fell down there for some reason...maybe he fell into the wall and it gave way, there's blood here," he glanced at the pool he had stepped out of. "There's pieces of the wall in the room…"

"What are you saying?"

"The wall is pushed into the room." Murray repeated. "That means something came through from this side." He indicated to the dark space with the hand that held the flashlight.

"So, what, like someone broke through the wall...and...what? Dragged him off?" Richardson said trying work the puzzle out in his mind.

Murray raised his eyebrows, "Well...I guess it's possible. I'm calling the police. At the very least we definitely have a break in."

As Murray walked away to get better cell phone reception, Richardson and several others crept over to the gaping hole in the wall and examined it closely. Richardson shined the bright flashlight throughout the space.

He looked up again, and followed some large metal tubing which looked like duct work. He traced it back to the point that it disappeared over the ceiling of the very room his was in. Looking back and above his head he noticed a grate in the ceiling. Following the duct back out of the room, he let his eyes settle back to looking into the darkness and noticed that duct work above his head followed a ninety degree turn straight up.

It was at that juncture that he shined his light and realized that the ducts were broken clean apart.

His first thought was that the building had perhaps shifted and that was what caused the two ducts to pull apart, and quite possibly the wall to fall too. Several other people now noticed where Richardson's eyes had followed to.

"What the hell?" Said someone next to him, stealing the exact words out of Richardson's mouth.

"Is..." Richardson started in a questioning tone, but an odd glimmer in the flashlight's ray caught the corner of his and he turned his attention back again to the ducts. There was shiny spot on the piping, something about it had a terribly familiar feel.

The duct work looked burned. The long downward streak etched in to the side of the tubing looked very similar to the acid burns that punctured the floor in the surgery room when he and Murray attempted to slice the parasitic animal loose from its host.

Murray returned clearly stating, "The police are on their way. Folks, let's..let's just all get back to your duties now, alright then?"

There was some bustling about as the people piled into the room and the hallway outside all snapped back into action, leaving only Murray and Richardson to await the police's arrival.

"Look at that," Richardson said, shining the light clearly on the acid burn in the tubing above.

"Is that...is that from...?" Murray stuttered. His eyes cast up, trying to trace back to the surgery room.

"I think it is. I think that acid burnt all the way through... what is that? Four floors?" Richardson said with an impressed gasp in his voice.

Murray raised his eyebrows, "I've never seen anything like it. How could acid for blood be that strong? You know how many layers of concrete and steel that burned through?"

"This is unreal. What are these creatures?!" Richardson said aloud. He turned to Murray and started. "You know... I've been thinking about..."

His words drifted off when his attention was caught by another sound echoing through the open hole behind the two men. They both turned and shined their flashlights through the dark space, allowing their ears to pinpoint the direction from which the sound was arising. Both flashlights quickly pointed straight down.

"What is that?" Murray said in a whisper.

"Sounds like...hissing... or something..."

Murray listened for a moment more then decided, "It sounds like metal screeching against metal. And lots of it too."

"Maybe it's the brakes of a subway train." Richardson theorized. "Subway's gotta run right down there."

Murray gathered up the courage to peek over the edge a little further. He could not see anything except the gleam of his flashlight fade into the darkness.

"Who's down there!" He shouted authoritatively.

The only answer he received was an increase in the terrible screeching sound. Both men squinted their eyes and pulled their heads back away form the hole. Murray started off across the room.

"Where are you going?" Richardson asked.

"To see if the police got here yet. The police'll be able to figure out what tunnel that is. I don't think it's in use."

Richardson shrugged and flicked off his flashlight. Suddenly he tensed up in pain and fear, unable to move. Murray glanced back at him as he walked out the door,

"You come..." he started by his eyes flickered down and his face went pale. Richardson whimpered softly and gasped for a breath.

Both men looked down. Something black and shiny had clamped onto Richardson ankle. Blood was pouring down the man's foot, soaking his shoe and running onto the floor.

"Jesus!" Murray said as he started forward to help his friend.

Just then something rose up from the shadows behind the frightened man. A terrible shriek, just like metal scraping metal, rose up from the lingering black monster that had taken form behind Richardson. The thing towered over the frozen still man and Murray fell backwards in shock.

The creature turned its elongated head towards Murray and curled its lips back as it hissed out a cry of death and pain. Suddenly the thing wrapped its tail around Richardson and slammed him hard to the ground before pulling him backwards into the darkness of the hole in the wall.

Murray felt his heart stop beating. He took a deep breath and forced himself to stand, crawl, whatever it took, just to get away as another monstrous black creature on the other side of the room turned its body towards him. He could hear Richardson screaming for dear life as the voice drifted off with the distance of the plummet beyond the hole.

"Jesus, oh dear Lord!" Murray said in a panicked whisper to himself.

Shaking wildly he thrust himself off the ground and out the door as quickly as he could. Over the deep sounds of his own frightened breathing he could hear a distinct thumping and clicking. He knew without a second guess that this was the sound of the pursuing monster's feet and taloned claws striking the tile floor as it darted after him.

Murray started screaming with all his might as he ran down the corridor towards the elevator.

"Oh God! NO! NO!"

Someone in the morgue opened the door to see what the commotion was about. He barely had time to scream for himself when the horrible black monster leaped onto him and subdued him. Murray frantically slapped the button on the elevator. The doors seemed to take an eternity to open while screams and deathly shrieks filled the air.

As he stepped in he glanced back down the corridor and saw the nearly eight foot tall shiny black dragon dragging the unconscious man out of the morgue.

Murray could not tell if he was alive. The horrid black monster did not appear to notice Murray sliding into the elevator and slamming on the close door button, but Murray did notice another creature poke its evil head out of the last room on the right.

Shaking, dripping with sweat and nearly hyperventilating Murray was deposited two floors up onto the main level of the hospital. He found the elevator corridor abandoned.

He turned quickly down the hallway toward the triage area, tripping over his feet as went, barely capable of separating himself from the panic he felt, the creature's evil shrieks still ringing in his ears and the sight of Richardson disappearing into darkness playing on his mind.

He burst through the emergency room triage area's doors with such a bang it startled many of the unaware people in the room. Two nurses quickly rushed over to Murray to assist him as he nearly fell over coming through the doors.

"Doctor Murray! What happened!" One of the nurses shouted.

Dr. Myrk came running over as well, "Jeez Carlos what the hell is wrong!"

Murray found himself completely unable to put words onto what had just transpired. He suddenly had the horrible feeling that staff members, that he once thought had quit and moved on to more secure jobs, had actually been pulled into the dark recesses below the hospital as Richardson had just been.

The hospital had to be evacuated. Maybe even the whole block, or the whole city of Philadelphia.

Murray felt on the brink of passing out. He struggled to control his breathing as someone tied an oxygen mask to his face and also started telling him to calm down. The nurses worked quickly trying to get the panicked doctor to calm down and explain what had gotten him so frightened.

"Get him a shot of valium," Myrk said quickly to one of the nurses who nodded and promptly headed off for the drug.

Myrk put his face close to Murray's.

"Carlos, what is wrong." He asked loudly and clearly. "What is wrong?"

Murray swallowed hard, trying to pull himself together. He couldn't get the monstrous creature out of his mind. He couldn't find the words to explain what had happened, there wasn't enough time to explain it. He just forced himself to whisper the only thing he could come up with to say.

"Get...out...of...here..." He gasped.

Myrk gave him a perplexing look. "What," he shook his head. "What do you mean, Carlos.?"

"The hospital...get out of the hospital..." Murray was able to say more firmly.

Just then two police officers entered the triage area looking for Dr .Murray.

"This is Doctor Murray," the nurse said as she headed over to him with a syringe in her hand

The police came around the curtain and seemed utterly confused.

"Dr. Murray, did you call us about a break in?" The officer said slowly, frowning deeply, obviously unsure of what was going on.

"Break in?" Myrk repeated. "I'm sorry, I'm Dr. Steven Myrk, what break in?"

"NO!" Murray shouted jumping up, away from the nurses that were attempting to give him a

syringe of medication to make him relax.

He did not want to relax at the moment, he owed at least that must to Richardson and the other man who the creatures took away. As Murray thought about it quickly, he realized he did not even know that man's name and he felt guilty for it.

He was sucked into the blackness with the horrible monsters he had just witness and to Murray, he was just a nameless frightened face.

"No drugs," he said, swallowing deeply. "No drugs. We need to evacuate! We must evacuate the hospital!"

Murray did not even stop to realize what a frantic sight he must have been, yelling at the top of his lungs to get out of the hospital and bringing the whole emergency department to a standstill.

The police stared at him wide eyed, the staff stopped and gaped at the head doctor's behavior.

"Okay, Sir, compose yourself and please, tell us what is going on?" An officer prompted.

Murray took a deep breath. "Monsters! We must evacuate!" He said in a half-raving mad tone.

He couldn't find the words to tell them and he knew he would be sending them to their deaths if they went down to the sub-basement. So, he told them just that. They all shot him a quizzical look.

"For God's sake, Carlos. What is really going on? What is this about a break in and now monsters? No one is evacuating!" Myrk commanded.

Murray just shook his head and did not answer.

One nurse entered the triage area from another door way and stopped in her tracks when she saw the look on Murray's face.

Myrk repeated, "Where is there a break in Carlos?"

"Break in?" The nurse repeated, all eyes turned to her. "Dr. Murray, what happened. Where's Dr. Richardson?"

"Do you know what's going on?" Myrk asked turning on the nurse.

She gave a confused and terrified look.

"Something's happened on B-2, the last janitor room on the right. We were all down there about an hour ago. There's a huge hole in the wall."

The police moved over to her, "Can you take us there please, miss?"

Without a word she nodded and led the officers off. Myrk started to take off with them, turned back at Murray, who was shaking his head slowly, eyes wide and locked in place.

"Don't do it, don't go down there." He whispered.

"Keep him here," Myrk said to the nurses around the room.

Murray shut his eyes hard trying to put what had just transpired out his mind. Still, he knew that those people were walking into their deaths.


	7. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER SIX**

When a new week had rolled around and Cassandra awoke, she was ready to start the day. She slept right through ten hours of the night and was well rested. Not allowing and bad thoughts to cross her mind, she stood and headed to the shower to begin her daily ritual.

The news reports offered nothing new for the morning, and even her uncle seemed less concerned about it. Perhaps it was the President's speech from days before, or perhaps it was just the lack of any more major new breaks.

Whatever the cause, life it seemed had begun to turn back to normal for Cassandra and much of New York City as best as she could tell. As she stopped into the latte shop on her way into Hi Styles that morning, she noticed that while people did have their papers in hand, many were back to talking to each other, or gibbering into their cell phones.

While some scanned the newspapers, there was no longer the eerie silence that went along with most of last week's reports. Cassandra was incredibly grateful for it.

She met Stephanie quickly at the latte shop and they walked off down one block together before parting way to head to each's place of work. Neither girl mentioned anything to each other besides the apartment. Move in was Saturday. The anticipation was growing and the girls could not wait for that day to come.

They parted ways in just a few more minutes Cassandra floated into the fashion store. A cheery Dan started down the stairs from the second floor of the shop waving a greeting to Cassandra as she punched in. She turned on the in store radio and it played music instead of news broadcasts. As the day passed on it seemed as though all the excitement from last week, all the hubbub and fear and uncertainty

that many people felt had gone away as quickly as it had come on.

In fact, by the time she was returning home to her bed late that night, Cassandra could not recall hearing a single parasite related news story. It was like it all just dropped off the edge of the Earth.

No matter, though, that was a good thing. It allowed everyone to return to life as normal. If the cause of the animals was evolution or terrorism, it seemed a mute point right now. People were moving on. The fear that swept the City, the Nation, was dissipating, and Cassandra at least, asked no questions.

On Tuesday's late evening news there were two small blips, one stating that police all across the country were getting usually large missing person calls. The news flicked over to a police officer from the NYPD who stated that he thought the reason for the increase in calls was just people over reacting.

Some of the missing person calls were coming in less than an hour after people left for work, he said. He promised the cameras that the department was going to look into reports, but pleaded with viewers to remember that the missing person law stated that a person missing was defined as one who had been unaccountable for twenty four hours.

It seemed that the large amounts of calls had little to do with the parasites, and more to do with overly nervous populations at large. The other brief story that was more closely related to the parasites was not a terribly exciting one. In fact, it was a rather understandable broadcast that Cassandra saw over the evening news.

A reporter stood in front of a building that Cassandra could not recognize. It looked large, there was a sign behind the woman in the hideous bright red parka, but her even more hideous bright red umbrella was blocking it.

As the rain drops dripped off the umbrella and past the woman's face she began her report.

"I'm here outside of Philadelphia's Mercy Hospital. This was the hospital that was first on the eastern seaboard to report the parasitic animal attacks from early last week."

She looked down quickly at the notepad in her hand.

"Seven victims were initially brought here when they encountered the parasitic animals just outside the city. Now, all of those victims did die, unfortunately, less than a day after entering these doors," she pointed dramatically to the emergency room side entrance of the hospital.

"Due to lawsuits that have been reportedly filed against the hospital, thi _s major_ medical center that had been serving Bucks County and the surrounding areas of greaterPhiladelphia for more than forty years, has been shut down as of this morning. That's right, the hospital has been closed, and I have been told that all patients have been relocated elsewhere. Stranding a city in need of medical _attenti_ on."

She turned to see a man leaving the building, being escorted out by official looking men in suits. The woman quickly strode over and the camera man _jog_ ged to keep up.

"Exc _us_ e me, Sir? Sir? Are you head physician Carlos Murray, Sir?"

The man looked white as a ghost and his long face was imprinted with heavy concern and dismay. He did not look up. He attempted to avoid even acknowledging the reporter hovering over him. One of the men in suits tried to get the reporter to shut the camera off.

"I have nothing to say, nothing." Murray finally said clearly into the camera.

He stared with wide eyes into the lens with a look of regret and fear on his face. His words were so rigidly spoken it was like he was trying to convince God that he felt the way he did. It was like he was evaluating his own soul through the lens of the camera and trying to convince himself of what he saw.

In a moment a suited man helped the torn doctor into a dark blue four door sedan. The reporter watched the men leave the site and then turned back to the camera to finish her story.

"Well, there you have it, this building, capable of holding eleven hundred and twenty sick and injured patients now stands empty. Earlier this morning the staff left, escorting patients out of the doors and sending them off to other already overcrowded hospitals in the area. The building now stands empty, and thousands of residents will have to seek their medical needs somewhere else."

She took a moment to pause, building drama in the evening rain. "This is..." the reporter suddenly stopped. She turned her head slightly to the side and even the camera jiggled sidewaysfor a moment. Though she was not speaking directly into the microphone, her voice came through none the less over the live broadcast.

"Did you hear something?" She clearly said to the cameraman who was obviously trying to reorganize his equipment judging by the shaky screen.

Apparently not realizing that her voice was coming through and that the camera was still on, she adjusted her hair, shrugged and turned back to the camera, waiting for a moment before she closed her story with a well spoken, "This is Lydia Lynn reporting live from the site of the former Mercy Hospital."

"I can't believe that people are suing the hospital because those people died," Michelle started up as soon as the commercial came on.

"Well, they must have settled or something or went bankrupt or who knows. I can't imagine why they would just shut the hospital down overnight. He probably just chickened out and didn't want to bring it to court." Jeremy said.

The two discussed it for a while longer and Cassandra eventually decided to head up stairs. She sat on her

bed and looked around the room.

"I should start packing," she said quietly.

She sifted through her closet space and found some luggage hidden in the back, which she grabbed and set open on the bed. But instead of putting her neatly organized expensive clothes into the suitcase that hadn't been used since she moved here from Sacramento over four years ago, she began to take down her room's decorations, pictures, posters and other nick knacks and piled them into the suitcases. She added them to the 'apartment supplies' pile on the floor and sat down to repaint her toenails.

It wasn't until that Thursday when another report made the news. It was nearing two in the afternoon and the streets outside the fashion store were bustling as usual, people inside were shopping and sifting through clothes. Cassandra was helping a mother shop for the perfect birthday gift for her daughter that was turning sixteen. The woman told her they were planning to take the girl to a nice lunch before surprising her with a brand new Lexus.

"What color is the car's interior?" Cassandra asked quickly.

The woman gave her a quizzical look, but responded anyway. "It's called desert sun. Sort of pale yellow leather. The car is white." The woman boasted snobbily.

Cassandra nodded and began to scan a hanging rack behind the display stand they were standing at. "You'll want a blouse for her that brings out her skin and matches the interior."

She grabbed just the right blouse off the rack. The stern looking lady smiled and took it from her hands. "Oh it's lovely, this will be perfect."

The woman didn't even flinch at the one hundred fifteen dollar price tag on the shirt, she just turned to Cassandra as asked of her, "What about a nice bottom to match?"

She smiled at the shopper and led her across the wood floor to another section of the store to seek out the complete look for the woman's daughter.

The music coming through over the speakers that had been playing nearly non-stop for four days now was interrupted. Cassandra felt her heart skip a beat as a familiar phrase took to the airways.

"We interrupt this program for a special bulletin."

The announcer said in a rattling voice. "Folks, folks, everyone within earshot of this radio signal, turn your television sets on now, put on the news... well, put on any local or national channel you want, they're all playing it."

The man's voice sounded excited and fearful at the same time. It was hard to tell what he was going on about, but he repeated.

"I mean it people, if you're somewhere where there's no TV, get up, leave right now, and find a TV and turn it on. This is the most unbelievable thing I have ever seen. I don't know how to describe it. It's...it's...it's... a video shot by a group of people...where was this thing shot again?" He said to someone else that must have been with him.

He came back on the air with the answer to his own question.

"South Carolina," he said into the microphone. "This footage was shot apparently this morning in South Carolina. There's about five people in the foreground, and the one recording. This is unreal. This is unreal folks, turn the TV on right now everyone listening. Call someone you know and tell them to turn it on, too. Get on your phones, your tablets, hop on online _right now_. This isn't for the faint of heart, but after seeing this footage I don't think we can afford to be that anymore."

Everyone in the store stopped, listened hard to the radio station and as the DJ fell silent for a moment, the shoppers and employees of Hi Style stared around at each other.

"We...don't have a TV," Cassandra said to the woman she was helping.

Jennifer walked out of the glass doors and onto the sidewalk. Across the street, an electronics store had over a dozen plasma and LCD screens on display. Jennifer stopped and stared at the monitors and soon the other people from within the shop filtered out onto the streets.

The first thing Cassandra noticed all up and down the busy street, was that everyone came to a halt. All pedestrians stared at any television that they could find, while more just stopped and turned their attention to their phones. The vehicles in the road came to a halt, some tapping fenders, their drivers ferociously honking their horns at the next person for causing the accident before a hush fell over the street.

Towards Times Square even at the distance they were at, Cassandra watched all heads point to the display marquee. The entire side of the buildings along Times Square were nothing but televisions and the monitors all lit up, becoming a giant theater screen of the images. Unable to see the screen from so many blocks away and from the wrong angle, Cassandra joined the others on the street and stared across the road to the display of televisions.

They watched the backs of the people that were blocking the cameraman's view. The image zoomed in and out of focus and bounced around as the people walked. Cassandra could see the store's employees and shoppers inside all staring at a hanging television. Someone in the store must have turned on the audio, because the loud speakers in the shop's entranceway filled with static and the sound of people breathing and stepping on leaves.

"OK," someone on the footage said as he knelt down and faced the camera, which was also lowering to the ground.

"This is for progeny. This is for everyone out there who wants to know what the hell is going on in our country. We're not at some secret installation or anything. We're just out here in the woods, hiking, enjoying summer as much as we can, you know," the voice said cackling smugly.

"And this is what we find. See for yourselves." The man in front of the camera stretched out his arm as though pulling back an invisible curtain and he slid off screen.

The people watching on the streets took such a deep gasp at the same time, it could not have been choreographed any better. The sight on the televisions was jaw dropping and terrifying. The camera angled down, overlooking a ravine. The cameraman was standing near the edge of a cleft in the landscape and not far below, it was difficult to tell the exact height with the bouncing of the camera, but it couldn't have been more than a ten foot drop.

The footage was not some sketchy darkly lit night time shoot with a fuzzy low quality camera. The images the camera saw were crystal clear in the broad daylight and well defined with its digital eye.

The view, though deep in the woods, was still bright, peaceful, serene, and a groomed trail was clearly visible on the other side of the ravine. It was clearly a park, clearly a nature trail. The cameraman panned to his five companions, all staring down into the gully, then scanned back down to the sight below.

"They're eggs," someone off the camera said very clearly.

To Cassandra, they looked more like oversized footballs, but egg sounded like a reasonable

description. It looked like some kind of satanic farmer's crop. The leathery looking three-foot-tall sacs

were arranged in perfectly aligned, evenly space rows, for as far as the camera could zoom to see.

Cassandra swallowed and gripped Dan's hand. She could not remove her eyes from the sight on the televisions across the street. She was almost oblivious to the traffic that had stopped, to the people that emerged from their cars in the middle of the road just to watch.

She only just overheard comments from the stunned pedestrians about the video and how it must have been faked somehow. She had a hard time believing it was fake, and if it was, someone put some serious thought behind setting up the "stage".

The men in the movie were obviously having a good time looking over the eggs, and really seemed like a bunch of mostly drunk party goers as opposed to the stunned silence of the crowds looking on.

Someone standing on the edge walked past the camera and the camera followed him. The young man bent down, picked up several small rocks and tossed them down into the ravine. He swaggered as he stood up, laughing.

"Eggs my ass," the man declared, "They're somebody's ***ked up pumpkins is what they are." He turned and marched down the hill to a point where he could jump easily off the edge of the cliff into the ravine.

The cameraman followed his movements, but never moved from his spot. The other men all flowed down the hill after their friend, one turning back and calling to the camera holder. All four of the men were laughing and challenging the one holding the camera to join them and get closer to the unusual objects.

"No," the camera holder shouted with a shaky voice. He obviously did not feel quite as at ease amongst the egg sacs as his buddies did. "I can get a better shot from up here."

He zoomed the camera in on his friends.

"Where'd they all come from?" the first man walking amongst the eggs said.

He walked carefully through the pods. He was a tall man with a big build like a college football player. His dark skin was clearly sweating; the only real sign of nerves beneath the casual laughter. He swaggered through the sea of pods finally stopping and turning to his friends.

"Let's take one with us, guys."

His friends said nothing. They just watched, obviously trying to calculate silently if removing an egg was a brave or stupid idea. The cameraman suddenly zoomed to one of the eggs next to his friend's leg and shouted wildly. The tip of the thing was peeling back. The egg was hatching.

"Oh man! Get back, dude," one of the boys said pointing to the egg behind the man's left leg, "One's hatching. You've made it hatch."

The man in the middle turned around to have a look as the camera panned along the area. Dozens of the eggs had begun to move. Their tips peeled back, rather than the shells breaking apart like a normal egg. They opened like a flower, instead of a chicken egg. It almost looked like they were hatching purely in response to the men around them, as it appeared that eggs further away were not moving.

As the first egg began to open leathery tulip, the boys in the small group noticed all the other egg pods beginning to open and started to pull away, their semi cool smiles they were wearing just a moment ago gone, and a look of sheer fear moved into their faces.

The camera panned from the group back to the loner in the center. Quicker than anyone watching from the streets could have ever guessed, had they known what was about to happen, a creature leapt from the egg and grabbed hold of the man's face as he screamed and dropped to the ground writhing .

People in the street jumped and shouted with fear as they watched the video's event unfold. The group standing on the sidelines all began to bolt back up the hill towards the cameraman, who was also backing away from the area. They screamed and shouted as they started off, and as the camera bounced around, more of the leaping animals could be seen emerging from their leathery bindings and skittering across the group with great speed, pursuing the fleeing people.

The camera, still running, had been dropped out of the hands of the holder. It bounced once or twice when it flew to the ground, and then settled, with only the blue sky in its view. Muffled screaming sounds, some shuffling, and a final shadow of a long-tailed crab hatching as it ran past the lens were all that was left in the final seconds of the footage.

The people on the streets just stood on the streets as the news reports came back to worried looking announcers. One station quickly went to a commercial, cutting off the reporter entirely. Another station soon followed, and Cassandra was quite sure she overheard a reporter on the news say something about shutting down. Cassandra dropped her eyes to the ground and turned and went back into the store.

After a while the rest of the daytime staff and Dan came back in. None of the customers returned. Their days had been too disrupted by the ghastly tape to think about clothing. Cassandra and the others hovered around the main counter and listened to the radio.

"Now," the announcer started. "I've got someone on the line here, someone you could consider an expert on these creatures. He is an employee at the Center for Disease Control, in Atlanta. Folks, Atlanta was one of the initial cities to report these animal attacks, and our man here has been part of the team studying these creatures from the beginning. Let's see what he has to say about this video."

"Hello?" the other man said.

"Hello, you're on the air. Go ahead."

"Yes, well," the thin voice obviously digitally altered for anonymity's sake on the other end stated, "I've seen this video probably thirty times already today. I am convinced it is nothing more than an elaborate hoax. It's so easy to mimic anything these days, with practical effects and good choreography. I can assure you that no such field of eggs as this video depicts truly exists."

"W _ell,_ do you have any evidence to prove that this was a hoax video?" The announcer questioned.

"Only that, the boys mentioned the location of where this massive field of eggs was located, and I can assure you that there have been no reports from that area, other than what these boys managed to get on video. I believe for that reason, it was a hoax. And..." he continued defensively,

"What about the cameraman? How did the video get out? This footage is completely fake. How would the camera footage have 'leaked' if the camera wasn't retrieved. This is nothing more than an elaborate hoax, right up there with crop circles. There is absolutely no …."

The announcer cut him off, "It's impossible to know what happened to the cameraman, and we really don't know who these people were, but there are reports of missing persons in that region over the last few days. How can you be sure they aren't related?"

"I see no evidence of that in this situation," the official said plainly.

The conversation continued on for only a few minutes longer with the CDC official. Much of the man's answers were cryptic and misdirecting. Cassandra saw what she saw, and neither she nor anyone else in the store believed that video clip to be a hoax.

It did prompt every radio station, every news station, every website and social media page, to get into similar debates all throughout the rest of the day, into the evening and throughout the entire next day and next.

Cassandra listened to some of the debates and tuned out others while she prepared to move on Saturday into the much anticipated apartment. Some of the debates were actually fun to listen to when one member of the arguing party would get completely dumbfounded by the other's points and have no defense left, in which case a dull silence would fill the airways before the radio announcers would cut back in to change the subject .

Other debaters made very good point, brought up some interesting questions about the tape, and the little monstrous animals in general, and Cassandra donated her full attention to one of those debates late on Friday evening.

Cassandra had missed the credentials of the two men that were bantering at each other, but she listened intently. This time, it was non believer, the one claiming he knew for sure that the tape was a hoax that got drowned out by the points made of the other man. When it was clear who had won the battle, the believer rattled off some very good open ended questions.

"Well, if this really is a terrorist attack on our soils using bioweapons, it is obvious from this tape that these weapons are breeding, and exponentially at that. In slow motion, I could count one hundred twenty seven eggs in the gully shown on the tape.

Assuming," he went on after an emphatic pause, "that each one of those hatchlings could and will overtake one man or large animal, there's going to be a lot of cadavers around those woods in time. If the military goes in to investigate, is it possible that they could all get affected... or should I say infected as well?

Which leads me to question what exactly the President's stance is now on this matter. If these things are actually weapons unlike anything other that we have known before, and they are spreading, how many fatalities will he allow before we drop a bomb to eradicate them."

Just when it had sounded like the debate had ended and the winner's soliloquy had ended, the radio host butted in.

"Sorry to interrupt you there Vincent, but there's a caller on the line here with some good questions and I thought I might let him speak to you."

"Oh, of course, patch him through."

"Hi? Hello? Sam here from Rochester. Yeah... hey, you know I've been listening, and I'm with you. I think the tape is real. But what I don't think is real is this terrorism theory."

"Really?" The debater asked quickly. "Not terrorist bioweapon, huh? Where do you think they came from?"

The caller was silenced for a moment. Apparently he hadn't actually thought that far before dialing the phone.

"Well," he stuttered. "Isn't it possible that these are just some kind of prehistoric animal that recently surfaced, I mean like the Loch Ness Monster, you know... something that's always been here, but we've never really seen it for sure."

The skeptic interrupted, Son, son, I can tell you one thing with absolute certainty." He paused for emphasis and to be sure he had the caller's undivided attention.

"These beings did not exist in the mass population until just shy of two weeks ago. I'm sorry, but prehistoric animals that have always inhabited the Earth don't just go from never being seen for millennia to suddenly popping up overnight prac _tically e_ verywhere. It just doesn't happen. These animals are the product of bio weapon research. I guarantee it. They were created in some underground lab in some God forsaken country with one purpose in mind - to rain terror down upon the rest of the world."

The callerseemed to have been put in his place. He fell silent long enough for the radio announcer to almost hang up on him before he spoke.

"Wait, wait. I've read that these things aren't just in America, they're all over a large part of the world. How did terrorists accomplish that overnight?"

It was a very good question, one for which the man in the studio took his time cultivating an answer to.

"One well planned, perfectly executed massive scale attack, clearly."

"Nah, nah," the caller interrupted before the other man could continue any further. "No way could they have done that. The man power involved would just be too much."

"Well how do you think they got here then?" The caller's opponent asked. After a long silence the debater continued, mocking the caller's disbelief about the terrorist attack.

"Hmm... well, if they were not deposited onto our soil by terrorists, then how did they get here? Santa Claus? Aliens, perhaps? Dropped down form Mars maybe?"

Defeated, the caller hung up.

Saturday morning rolled around not a moment too early. Cassandra shot up light a lightening bolt, thoroughly excited, and almost all packed. She dressed and readied herself for the day in record time, less than an hour.

By nine thirty in the morning, she and her family along with Stephanie and her mother, movers, and the building superintendent were piled outside the building. The girls hopped and skipped before starting up the stairs into the main entrance door. Stephanie's mother pushed the door open, but gestured the girls through first.

"It's your place, go on."

They shot past her with all the excitement of a kid in a candy store for the first time. The hallway they found beyond the door was small, tight, but elaborately decorated with tiny tiles on the floor and intricate moldings along the chair rail walls and around the only door on this floor. To their left was the start of a gently spiraling stair well. Stephanie's mother looked up to the chandelier hanging from the ceiling.

"Well, you're on the top," she sighed.

They all started up the stairs, Cassandra and Stephanie racing to the top floor.

"Open the door!" Cassandra smiled.

Stephanie shrugged at her, "My mom has the key."

They both looked over the banister and watched for their families, who were making their way up slowly. When they reached the top, Stephanie's mother handed her the key happily and said, "I'm so happy for you honey. You too, Cassandra."

They smiled at her turned and unlocked the door. The wooden door creaked open gently and the girls did not hesitate to step through. They were instantly greeted by a large open spacious living room with deep rich mahogany colored hardwood floors and a large triple window overlooking the street. The girls smiled and squealed with happiness at the immense space.

To the right of the entrance door was a small efficiency style kitchenette. It had a refrigerator, some cabinets and the gray colored stone counter tops Stephanie's father had reported it had. Beyond the kitchenette was s small tiled floor area that could serve for a small kitchen table. On the other side of the room there were two doors.

Cassandra thought for sure that one of the doors would be the entrance to the hallway they would follow down to the girls' bedrooms and the bathroom. Much to her dismay as she reached for the handle on one of the doors, she found instead a small closet. Stephanie opened the other door and found a tiny bathroom with a standing shower, toilet and tiny sink.

They looked back around their dream apartment and realized that their massive living room space was also their bedroom, kitchen, closet area and everything else too. Suddenly, the apartment had lost a tremendous amount of glamour.

Stephanie turned on her mother, who was smiling at her.

"So what'cha think," she asked with her heavy New York accent.

"Well," Stephanie started. Cassandra casually jabbed her elbow into her side, reading the look on Stephanie's face.

"I think it's great," Cassandra promptly stated.

It was tiny, far from the picture Stephanie had painted in her mind of what her father had described the place as, but it was going to be their new home. It was close to downtown, close to school, not too far from either girl's homes and it was their own apartment. They could make it work.

Stephanie, however, did not take Cassandra's subtle 'please don't complain' hint.

"I thought Dad said this place was a loft."

Her mother chomped on a piece of gum through pursed lips, obviously displeased with Stephanie's remark. "It is a loft, dear. What did you expect? This is midtown, dear. You want a townhome? It's exactly what your father said it was."

Stephanie sighed and looked out the window. "It's fine, I guess."

After a while, the girls were left alone. The little bits of furniture they owned and all of their belongings had been brought up quickly by the moving crew and just after lunch, Cassandra stood in the middle of their new room, contemplating the round white sofa that Stephanie had selected.

"So...is this a bed, or a couch?"

"Both!" Stephanie said patting the odd piece proudly. "Oh come on, it's great, don't you like it?"

"Well," she shrugged, "it's different. Not really what I was expecting."

Stephanie tipped her head at her friend.

"Was this apartment what you were expecting?"

"What were you expecting?" Cassandra asked completely avoiding answering that question.

The lease on the place had been paid for a full six months by Stephanie's father and that was good enough for Cassandra. It was a chance to be out on her own and have half of a place of her own. She wasn't about to argue that it was a little cramped.

"Well, I don't know. Two floors maybe. A hallway; more room than this. Like that place in Ghost."

Cassandra smiled. "Well I think this place is fine. But we need to go out any buy some armoires or something, all of our clothes won't fit into that little closet."

Together, the pair of friends headed out onto the streets once more. The worries from just a few days earlier long forgotten from their minds.

Courtesy of the very same media that could not wait to send out the video footage to every television and radio station and across every news website, the world outside was now running a little less frightened as the very same reporters that proclaimed all should watch, now proclaimed with the greatest emphasis the could display that the video was a well choreographed fraud, and that the individuals involved, had all been arrested that very morning.


	8. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

 _Stay calm. Stay calm. Don't panic._

Sans told his heavily beating heart to quiet down, the words of his Lieutenant replaying over and over in his mind. Perhaps if he heard them enough he would actually abide by those words. For now, he was trying hard to convince himself not to panic, and trying equally hard just to drown out the sounds of his own beating heart from his ears.

He could feel sweat dripping down his forehead, sending a chill to his bones despite the heat. The hairs on the back of his neck were standing on end, he had goose bumps on his arms and he swallowed against the trembling he could feel in his hands.

The words 'don't panic' seemed to be the tag line over the last two weeks for Sans and his unit. There had been sheer chaos, as Sans had heard, across the country. Quietly, as panic-free as possible the country's military units were deploying to every state that had reported incidents of the alien animals. Tensions ran high from every installation across the map as a secret war started up, all while avoiding the public's eye and mass panic.

Sans' flashlight flickered in the darkness all around him. The air was still, the men around him barely made a sound. Neither a breath of air nor a shuffle of boot could be heard in the lightless void around the teams. Despite the record heat for the first Friday in July, there was a chill in the air that dove deep into the bones and hearts of Sans' unit.

He could not keep his mind focused on only one thing, though he tried hard to concentrate solidly on the darkness, trying to see through it. He had seen the satanic monsters which they now hunted; he knew their black hides would be difficult to see in the pitch darkness. The hunt had changed dramatically from just five days earlier, Sans thought.

Then, his unit and several others were deployed to hunt down and capture the murderous worm-like hatchlings that had viciously emerged from the chests of the people they had parasitized.

The groups of officers, some still covered in the blood of their comrades, set out high on emotion to find the horrid little monsters. The men took to the woods, searched the Virginia base, and scoured the falling darkness for the three foot long, razor sharp toothed nightmarish monsters.

What they had found instead as the evening hours fell over the surreal surroundings, was an entirely new abomination, the likes of which no man could have ever imagined in the peaceful mountainsides. The giant black creatures they had encountered caught the men completely unprepared.

While four men, Sans and three others from his group, found their way out of the dark woods that night, over twenty more were not seen again. There was no telling for sure how many of the monstrous creatures had been in the woods that night, but simultaneously on the base, three of the animals had killed more men with greatest speed and efficiency and less losses than the highest trained most elite army ever imagined.

As the morning light had broken through the sky following the attack, many men were still sick with fear as the ranks were pulled together for evaluation of what had taken place. It had taken the entire night for shaken crews to clean up the mess of dead infantry. Fifty two in total had met their deaths within the security of the base that night, and according to many officers in the early hours of the morning, the animal attack had lasted questionably five minutes.

Heads were low that morning, hearts were sunk and the base was still and quiet as they listened to their lieutenant's briefing. The men waited while their commander conversed on the telephone quietly and quickly then returned to the men in front of him. What secrets the man had learned on the telephone he did not share with the rest of the troops. He continued his briefing, continued to piece together a moment by moment take of the night, and then dismissed the men.

By that afternoon, Sans and Lyle had felt like they were gearing up for war, and rightly so, they each thought to themselves as they slung a gun around their shoulders and packed extra ammunition into their belts.

"What about Melinda and Tyler?" Lyle whispered softly to Sans as they mingled in the lines before the weapons master.

Sans dropped his eyes to the ground, saying nothing.

"We're gonna go find them, right? All those people that went into the woods." Lyle asked again.

Again, Louis, eyes still dropped, acted as though he could not hear.

"Louis?" Davis prompted again, taking hold of his arm. "Louis?"

"I don't know what's gonna happen, alright?" He said solemnly.

It was not up to him of course, to make a choice about going into the woods to find missing officers. While if it were he would have done it in an instant to try to find his friends. Had he known that they would not emerge from the woods that night, he would have gone back in for them, he thought.

His mind could not leave Melinda behind, despite another part of him recognizing how foolish it would have been to run off into the darkness, into those creatures' paths to find his friends. He too would have disappeared for certain.

As the two strode off with their new armaments, sans glanced off into the woods beyond the base, thinking about the monsters that lurked beyond the tree line. Perhaps they were headed back into the woods to find the creatures and their comrades.

He swallowed deeply, thinking back again to the traumas of the night before. So many officers now lay in an overstuffed morgue because of only three animals that had entered into the open spaces of the large base. The woods that Sans eyed warily in the afternoon light played to the creatures.

The trees provided shelter and camouflage in the darkness and from what he had seen he knew how agile the creatures were. They could leap from tree to tree and run faster than anything he had ever met before, faster than a cheetah no doubt. To enter the forest to find the missing would be suicide.

Apparently the lieutenant knew that, Sans figured as he listened to his orders that came down from the commander of the base. There would be no rescue, no reconnaissance. Those in the woods were lost. His heart dropped as he thought of what the final moments were like for his friends, Melinda and Tyler. He hoped they died quickly at least, painlessly. He knew they were dead. He took a moment to mourn while he nearly ignored the orders being given.

There would be increased training drills. There would be increased guards on duty at all times, there were many new rules that had been prompted by the attacks from the animals of the night.

Throughout the next few days the men followed their orders. They drilled harder, longer, more intently than ever before. They always walked in at least pairs or small groups. The exercise field was no longer in use. No one dared to step beyond the ends of the pavement for silent fear of striding too close to the woods. No drills took place in the forest, and no mention of the animals from any senior officer was given.

Not until the past Thursday. Just around thirteen hundred, the men on guard on the base, every man on site, in every building, every unit all clamored to televisions and computers anywhere they could find one. One person howled out loudly to anyone that would hear him speak about the egg field being shown on television.

The video sparked fear and tension and strong desires of retaliation from many of the men. The base lit up with the men talking of striking, bombing, killing the eggs now, quickly, before it was too late. While the men, and indeed nearly everyone else across the country knew little about the creatures, they were all beginning to understand the life cycle of the animals now.

Regardless of where the creatures originated from, whether they were indeed some laboratory creation for global terrorism, or actually truly were creatures from outer space, as some suspected, they were here, and they have proven to be utterly fatal time and time again for nearly two solid weeks.

Something had to be done, Sans thought, and he agreed with others around him as he watched the video, that the egg field should be destroyed. Already in the two minute long video, they could see at least four people succumb to the hatchlings.

The men knew beyond a doubt that the drunken college buddies they watched fall would be dead soon, in fact, they were probably already dead. Sans let his mind drift back to Coolbaugh, wondering if the same had happened to her. Where there eggs in the woods beyond the base, too? Was there an egg field just a few miles away? Would the animals hatch out and hunt the troops down in the base?

The nightmarish black adult form of the horrible species had not produced another attack. In fact, for the last few days and nights, the woods were entirely too silent. There was no evil shrieking from the creatures to be heard, but also no birds chirping, not even crickets dared make a peep in the dusk hours anymore.

The dead silence frightened the men in the aftermath of the animal attack. It made Sans feel like the enemy beyond the tree line was silently creating an attack plan, plotting total destruction of all things living. It was ridiculous, he knew, but still, he wanted his share of the creatures' annihilation. He was ready to jump on the wagon to head south and obliterate that mine field of eggs.

But there would be no egg assault for these men. Less than two hours after the video aired, the base was still in an uproar, as too, Sans imagined, and was the rest of the human world. Many people hovered together in anxious groups, above and beyond ready to be called upon to tear down the animals, while some officers sank into lulls quietly in their rooms, fearful of what war might come.

It would be war, too. Senior officers took to their headquarters, occasionally the passing troop outside could hear a telephone ring on the inside and get quickly answered.

"They're probably talking to D.C." Lyle assumed as Sans and he and several others sat on a small wall behind the headquarters, and casually eavesdropped as best they could.

"I just wanna know if they're sending us out to South Carolina or what?" another officer said bitterly, sucking back on a cigarette.

"Prolly not," Sans muttered quietly.

The men looked at him and he shrugged, staring at his feet. "They'll have other units for that."

"Well, we've got to do something," Lyle said.

"Hell yeah, Bro," another man agreed quickly. "These things are everywhere. I got off the phone with my girl back in Atlanta. She said since that tape played, the city's goin' nuts. Cops are tryin' to keep the peace an all, but she's too afraid to go outside."

"People are gonna panic," another in the small group said.

"Sounds like they already are," Lyle whispered, eyes flickering towards a window in the headquarters as a phone rang again.

"Hey, Lewis," someone said, nudging him slightly.

He lifted his eyes, "Yeah?"

"I heard the only ones...the only ones that came back from the woods was you and some guys in your squad."

"Yeah," he said after a brief pause. "So?"

"So..." the officer repeated. "How'd you manage to get back?"

The small group of men fell quiet and waited with great anticipation of the answer. Lewis sat a while. He sighed and shook his head, horrific memories that he just wanted to forget came running back into his mind in leaps and bounds, and a fading image of Melinda played into his brain. He lowered his again, staring at the ground below his feet and gripping a cigarette for himself.

"We ran."

The door to the headquarters came bursting open and the four men outside it jumped to their feet with a startled look upon their faces. They watched a small group of officers stride hastily across the base and split apart, heading into different buildings.

Sans walked idly into the main area, watching the troops, all armed, watch the senior staff as they strode off. In a short while the siren rang out. It was the cue to gather for orders in the courtyard. With great promptness the men started piling in to await orders, excited about the opportunity to take down the egg field.

As orders were given, many men were disappointed. Their destination would not be the egg field in South Carolina that was already, not even three hours later, being reported across the radio stations around the base, as a hoax. They, instead, were being sent north, to organize with more divisions. Their destination was Philadelphia and they were to disembark as ordered immediately.

So now, here they were. Sans glanced around, looking at the flashlights in the shaky hands of the officers to the side and in front of him while the lights bounced off his head from the men behind him. They were not informed, as they were being deployed, about why they were coming or what to expect. All the men were told was what vehicles to get on and what city they were headed for. They had begun to depart by seventeen hundred.

When Sans arrived in Philadelphia at almost zero hour, he was too anxious to sleep. Quietly he wandered around the military set up. The place they were at, even though it was the middle of the night, felt like a ghost town. The transport he rode in on had come through the highway at first, then veered off onto back roads. Using the shelter of the night, the vehicles navigated the city streets as nonchalantly as possible and were directed through a cordoned off street by local police.

The van moved through the alleyways, and Sans glanced out into the night. The place seemed still, hardly a light was on, everything nearby had been evacuated. Chills ran down his spine as he stepped out of the vehicle in the middle of the street, just before a makeshift command center in the back of a van. He glanced around at the Philadelphia streets. The place was empty.

Lyle stepped out immediately after him and also glanced around.

"What the hell?" he said as he looked to the buildings all around.

Some of the places were businesses, all with closed signs in the window. Even the twenty four hour gas station just at the end of the block was dark and empty. One parked car sat quietly down another street. The flashing of police lights could be seen bouncing off the buildings in all directions.

"It looks deserted." Sans said as he watched red and blue flashing lights shine through windows of hastily emptied buildings.

"What in the hell is going on around here?" Lyle said again.

The two men glanced at one another then departed through the mob of military vehicles and soon found the infantry. There were easily three hundred men piled into the streets, all mingling quietly, looking nearly as confused Sans and the rest of the men were.

Beyond the men Sans eyed a large, unlit building, just about a block and half away. The massive building loomed in the darkness and as Sans watched it, he felt as though he was back at his own base, staring at the infirmary complex, when the seven men who had been host to the giant black monster's pupae were quietly locked behind those gray walls. The ominous building sent shivers through his body. Sans glanced sideways at an unlit sign above one of the buildings entrances.

 _Mercy Hospital_

The large lettering was not turned on to glow red for the emergency entrance. Just like the rest of the blocks all around the hospital, it seemed that the power was cut off. The men fell quiet and stared at highly tense attention as a heavy faced General marched to the head of the group.

"Let me fill you all in on what I can." He started plainly.

He spoke in a loud whisper as he paced through the crowded officers. He did not use a microphone or a megaphone to amplify his voice. The stage was set for an attack and it was being kept as quiet as possible.

"Some of you may have seen this place on the news a few days ago. Several men went missing inside the building on Tuesday. This included at least four medical staff, and eight city cops that were all sent to investigate. There is a layout of the building over there," he pointed to a folding table under a halogen bulb along side the command van with an officer waiting nearby.

"You are, each man, to look, listen and learn the layout. That lieutenant will show you where some of you will be entering from. Others will be entering from a different access location. You are not interested in the building, folks, but rather what's below it."

The attentive group of officers swayed slightly at the man's words, but no one spoke or murmured a single sound. They waited quietly for their commander to continue.

"There are old, long closed tunnels below the building. We believe that some of these….. creatures..." he glanced off to the lieutenant at the table. "Briggs, what are you people calling them now?"

The lieutenant, Briggs, stuck his chin high into the air and took a deep breath, "Bugs, Sir."

He called the words loud and clear. The word stung deep into Sans mind. It suited the animals, he supposed.

"Right, then," the General said, turning about to stride through the lines again.

"Well, we believe that these _bugs_ have built a God damned bug hive in the old train tunnels. According to local law enforcement there's been several _hundred_ missing persons reports here in the last seven days. We have to assume that those people are below ground. Your orders are to find any living souls and bring them back. Find any bugs, and blow them to pieces. Understood?"

The troops gave a unanimous and loud, "Yes, Sir!"

"Good, gentlemen."

The units were organized, the maps were studied, and extra ammunition was handed out. The small army was pulled together and ready for action in no time. One unit was deployed West and headed off down the block.

Another was deployed East and Sans and a large squadron were deployed through the emergency entrance of the hospital, immediately to the North, while another group of soldiers waited as back up in the common area.

Sans and his group quickly jogged up the street to the hospital, forced the sliding glass doors open entered through the emergency room and quickly descended a vacant stairwell, their steps echoing loudly as the men wasted no time in arriving at their destination, a janitorial supply room at the end of the hallway on the lowest level of the building.

As Sans trotted along with the men in his group, he clenched his jaws and kept his eyes wide. They were soon deploying soldiers down the shaft behind the hole in the wall at the back of the room. Three at a time, men slid quickly and quietly down ropes while other units were entering the vacant train tunnels through various manholes on adjacent streets.

Sans had felt like he had been down in the tunnels for hours as he strode quietly and carefully along with the soldiers around him. He glanced at his wristwatch and discovered that he had indeed been searching the seemingly endless maze of tunnels for just over two hours.

He could feel that though the anxiety and tension was still rampant amongst the soldiers, the cause of the emotions had changed in the time they had been there.

At first, all were eager to dive, confident that they could destroy an entire nest of the nasty bugs. Sans wondered if any of them had actually even seen the full grown bugs, but he somehow doubted it.

Somewhere along the way the men had at least been informed of the creature's existence, and quite possibly they had even been described to the men, but Sans saw them, with his own eyes.

He had stared into the metallic jaws of one of the creatures as it crept closer and closer to his small group of armed men. In its presence he felt like a helpless child.

The thing was much taller than any human being. It walked halfway upright, but ran flat out on all fours with lightening fast speed and agility. Its huge tail was crowned with long barbs and even its back had long sharp spinous processes that shot upright from its shiny black bullet proof hide.

Now, as the men searched the empty tunnels, the air amongst them had changed to frustration and loss. There were no missing people to be found, no bugs, and no call for a large military attack. Sans was just as disappointed as the officer that called into the radio sounded when their leader signaled the group to a halt.

There were two radio bearers in the front and rear of the large pack of soldiers to help ensure that communication was never lost. From time to team the three teams would check in with one another and with the outside base. Sans, stuck somewhere in the middle of the pack could strain his ears to hear what the other teams were reporting.

After two hours searching the dark tunnels who knew how far below ground, the group halted and a radio bearer in the lead of the pack called back to home, reporting that they had still found nothing and requested an update, as previously directed, to whether they should keep searching or call off the troops. As directed, the other two teams called in their positions at the timed intervals and Sans and all the others listened to the their calls too.

It seemed that the other teams had found nothing either, and one team sounded as though they had gone so far and so deep it seemed they were lost in the tunnels.

The General communicated a little more to all the team leads, then ordered the troops back. Morning was coming soon and the General seemed eager to be sure his troops and all military vehicles were out of the area come dawn light.

Sans imagined he knew why. The streets above had been evacuated and local police were on guard well away from the military set up, to keep prying eyes out of the way.

This was to be a quiet project, one that would not prick the media's ears, one that would not cause the public to notice what was going on, and not cause a panic.

The feelings of anxiety and mounting panic in Lewis and many others in the group was obviously quelling and as the group turned back to retrace their steps on their close to two hour return to the surface, it was obvious that many of the men were utterly disappointed at their wasted mission.

The men all turned around and started back, still watching the walls around them as though they might spring to life any minute. They moved quietly and as swiftly as they could in the dark tunnels, shining their bright lights all around.

Every fifteen minutes as directed, the units would fall to a stop and check in with the other units and the outside base. The first check in on the return trip revealed just as Sans suspected, nothing. The other units reported no change in scenery as they traced their steps back to their entrances, and the outside base acknowledged their lack of findings.

Another fifteen minutes went by and the group came to a halt again. It was frustrating enough that they had turned up nothing in their hunt, but to constantly stop, was getting tedious and holding the men up from reaching their destination. They had been underground long enough and many of the men were just restless to see the sky again and get out of the smelly, stale tunnels.

"Alpha One to Base." The team lead said into the radio.

"Alpha One to Base." He repeated when there no response.

"Alpha One to Beta One, are you on the line?" He asked from another team.

"Beta One here, yep, we're here. Can't get through to base on our channel, man." The voice inside the radio said.

"Alpha One to Delta Squad.:"

"Delta here. Can't get through to Command either. Got lots of static on our channel."

"Switch to channel seven," the team lead said the radio controller. The officer prompts flicked a switch on the side of the unit and the tunnel filled a heavy static sound.

"Alpha One to Base... Hello?"

 _Static_.

Tension suddenly revisited the group. Sans could feel his heart begin to race. He swore that in the darkness out of the corner of his eye he saw something move. He glanced quickly sideways at the empty wall to his left and kept his ears tuned in to the lead's attempts at reaching the ground.

He tried again, and again, switched channels and tried once more.

"There must be some interference." He whispered loudly enough that mostly everyone had heard him. "We must have gone too deep in these tunnels. There's probably too much concrete around us or something."

He tried the other teams again and for a few moments the three team leads bounced back and forth to each other, all confused as to why they could not reach the base many dozens of feet above their heads, so they decided to continue forth with their exit from the tunnels.

The men started off again and suddenly the radio burst to life.

"Hello!" A very rattled voice shouted over the radio unit.

"Base? This is Alpha Squad, what's going on up there?"

"Emergency!" The voice shouted.

All the men in the tunnel seemed to grow even more quiet, they held their breaths and strained to listen closer. They could hear gunfire in the background behind the frantic voice over the line.

"Emerg...JESUS!"

There was a loud crashing sound and the line went dead. The startled group of officers started silently at one another for a moment before the team lead pulled himself together.

Suddenly, from somewhere deep inside the dark tunnels, a loud hissing shriek sliced up through the air. Twenty or so men gasped, jumped, and every flashlight available pointed down the tunnels from which they had just came.

The leader of the group swallowed, listened with still breath, hands shaking, then yelled confidently and loudly.

"Alright, alright, let's get up there! MOVE PEOPLE!"

The men bolted down the long black tunnels, their lights bouncing around chaotically as they ran. Their nervous heartbeats were almost as loud as the sounds of their feet striking the old concrete ground. The quietness that they utilized so well as they descended into the tunnel shafts was now gone, and the beating of their feet on the ground echoed in the empty chambers.

Several men questioned aloud as they ran as to what might have happened above ground, but Sans knew the answer. His heart throbbed feverishly in his chest.

He was sure that the people above were getting slaughtered by the same evil black monsters that had wiped out over four dozen men in and around his base five days earlier. The creatures were menaces. Demons. He knew what was happening on the level of the world right now, the animals were spreading and they were unstoppable.

The radio sparked to life again, barely audible over the sounds of the unit's steel toed boots slamming the hard ground, but the team lead called out loudly through the tunnel for all to stop.

The men halted and their ears quickly filled in the quiet tunnels with the sounds of more screams from the radio unit.

"My God," someone whispered near Sans.

"OH GOD!" A voice squealed through the radio.

"Who is this?!" The team leader called into the unit.

"Beta, Delta? Someone there! Base? Who is this? What's going on?"

The radio crackled and fizzed for a moment, then clicked back into life once again and the sounds of multiple guns firing rang out through the dark misty air.

"This is Beta unit! Jesus! We're under attack! Oh God, there's a fucking SWARM!"

He shouted over the gunfire. The button to the radio must have still been clamped down tightly in his grip as the man screaming gagged and fell silent. As the gunfire stopped broadcasting through the radio, a horrible shriek rose up through the air once more.

Louis fell back into the wall, lowering his wide eyes to the ground. He shook his head and tightened his eyebrows.

"They can't be stopped," he whispered. Every head near him turned with surprise to him.

The team leader looked over at Lewis, sweat blistering on his forehead, his eyes glazed with a definite deer-in-the-headlight look.

"They can…" he said shakily.

Sans shook his head, but did not respond.

"Our base got attacked by the things," Lyle voiced from the crowd, all heads now turned to him. "The...the...damned things...they're...they're like... eight or nine feet tall, they're huge."

"Eight or nine feet?" A young officer questioned, readjusting her glasses, "I thought they were bugs? W hat kind of bug is eight feet tall?"

"You didn't really think you needed heavy weapons to kill cockroaches, did you?" Somone snapped.

Sans' heart was pounding in his chest. He knew the Beta team, and probably everyone above ground had been killed. Suddenly the very ground below their feet, the walls of the tunnels all round the men, and the chipped archaic roof above their heads began to tremble. Just as quickly as it started, it had stopped. The men looked all around, half expecting the walls to tumble down upon them, but whatever had happened seemed to have ceased and the tunnels seemed to have been able to hold up to it.

"What...?" The team lead started to say, but he was interrupted by the sound of another voice from the radio.

"Hello?" A frightened sounding officer called out.

Reaching for the radio, the Alpha Team lead tried to adjust to what his ears had just heard.

"Yes...This...This is Alpha team, who is this?"

"Ulm... Delta here, Mitch, what in the hell is going on, man?"

He paused for a moment, glancing back at Sans, eyeing his suspiciously.

"I'm...I'm...not...sure..."

He licked his lips and shifted his feet, "We're heading back up..."

"Yeah, we are too...trying to get there quick..."

"Look, just... just watch out, alright?" He said nervously into the radio, still eyeing Sans.

When he ended communication, he walked back over to Lewis.

"You've seen them before?" He asked, eyes bouncing from Private Sans to Private Lyle.

"Yea. I saw one," Sans said flatly. "It killed three people in my team of seven. A small group, them killed over fifty men in our base on Sunday night."

"What?" rang out through several shocked voices in the crowd.

Someone came over to the team lead, whispering, "If a small group of them killed that many, and there's a swarm of them here..."

"Enough." The officer was cut off.

The words were true enough; there was no need to finish the sentence. The men were wide eyed with fear and adrenaline, eager to evacuate the confines of the tunnel.

"Let's...let's get to the top and see what's up from there. Let's just go, quick and easy."

The men moved out promptly and quickly, racing once again faster than their own hearts were pounding.

They reached the ropes they had used to climb down through the hospital and quickly and athletically, the trained men scaled the wall back up into the janitor room. Once all officers had reached the basement floor the men took off as a group, exiting out the coroner van's loading bay just off the morgue.

Sans was glad that he was out on the street. The hot summer air hit his face welcomely. In the darkness of the pits below the city, he felt he might never see the world above again. The streets outside were just as still and quiet as the tunnels from which they had emerged.

The men quickly filtered down the sidewalk and around the corner towards the make shift base crammed into the street a block and a half from the hospital.

The lights of the police cars still bounced off the vacated buildings all around the streets and alleyways. As he jogged by, Sans could see wooden blockades set up to keep traffic out. He did not see any police officer standing around or sitting in their vehicles. He glanced ahead of the conglomeration of military vehicles. The headlights from the vehicles offered light onto the otherwise dark streets.

As the group got closer, they pulled up to a stunned halt.

"There's no one here!" Someone gasped from the crowd.

Sans and Lyle squeezed through to the front of the line and stared with terrified awe at the street in front of them. There were guns and depleted ammunition rounds scattered all throughout the street along with small pools of slime that oddly resembled drool.

What few tables and papers and equipment that was being utilized for this exercise were strewn everywhere. Bullet holes were riveted nearly every vehicle and most of the surrounding buildings. Blood covered the streets, spattered the vehicles, and pooled up in some places, but there was not a body in sight.

"Split up," the team lead said the awe struck men around him. "See if you can find anyone dead or alive, check those cop cars too. Let's search buildings that aren't locked."

The men quickly did as ordered. Sans and Lyle jogged off through the military units headed for a police vehicle at the end of an alleyway. As they drew near, they slowed approached the car, both men expecting one of a monster to leap out at them at any second. They inspected the vehicle and the street beyond it and found not a soul in sight.

"OVER HERE!" Someone called and all the men scrambled toward the sound of the calling voice.

Sans and Lyle ran back down the alleyway, crossed the street, and followed to where the group was convening in front of a van parked on an adjacent street.

The men stared silently to the ground. Louis only glanced at it. He peeled his eyes away quickly and immediately scanned the street, the building tops, looking through every shop window, into every dark crevice, staring to see around all corners if he could. The other men just gaped in wide eyed wonder at the monstrous corpse that lay tattered on the ground before them.

"My God, this is a _bug_?" Someone emphasized as he knelt down closer to it.

"What's that smell?"

"Smells like sulfur or something."

"Don't touch it!"

Sans turned to see who might be touching the monstrous thing. One brave soldier bent down, stretching his arm towards the grotesque black monster.

"It's okay, the thing's dead. It's riddled with bullet holes," he said. "Look at its head... that is its head, right?"

He indicated to the long tubular curved skull that had been punctured so many times with semi automatic weaponry it was almost undefinable as the thing's head. Reaching down, he grabbed hold of the creature's arm and attempted to move the carcass.

"Jeez it weighs a ton!"

"Look, just leave it alone."

"What is...?" the officer started, reaching down, he put his fingertips to the side of the animal that was laying on the ground. He attempted to trace the outline of the large hole that the creature appeared to be laying in, but as he reached his hand down to investigate he jumped back screaming a blood curdling yell.

The men round him shouted and sprung into action.

"Oh my God!"

Two men wrestled the hysterical yelling officer to the ground while others attempted to take their jackets and wrap the man's hand. Sans watched with fright as the man's fingertips began to disappear right before his eyes. The skin and bone was dissolving into nothing while the man cried in agony. A sizzling sound was still audible even over the man's screams.

"What the hell is going on!" Someone called from the street.

Sans jumped and looked down the road. The other unit, the only one left, apparently, had joined with them on the surface, hearing the screaming they were running at full speed towards the sounds.

It took a long while to quiet the injured man. Several officers had carried him off to the medic van, given him medication and sedative and wrapped his hand. By the time they had done this, the officer's first two fingers and part of his hand below the knuckle had decayed away.

"The God damned thing's got acid for blood," someone decided as a large group of astounded men stared at the horrible black animal.

Sans sat quietly on a street corner watching the men look at the dead animal and eyeing others as they continued to search for the missing command and back up squads and police officers.

"Where did they all go?"

"The General said he thought maybe the missing people were taken underground."

"We searched the underground! There was nothing there!" An angry officer yelled as he waved his weapon.

"Well, the Beta Squad sure as hell found something didn't they! They haven't come back have they!"

"How the hell could these things wipe out that many people?"

"Where did they take them?"

The men discussed every detail as the morning light broke through. Local police began to show up, asking the very same questions of their fellow officers who had not reported in. The Alpha team's lead got on the phone to contact superiors and inform them of what has transpired while other men were left to discuss the possibilities.

"We should go back in." Someone suggested

"What!" Another gasped.

"Are you crazy? There's less than half of what we started out as! We have no idea what we're up against."

"Well," yet another added, "at least we know they can be killed."

"If there were enough of them to wipe out two hundred men, how in the hell do you think we're going fare?"

"I think we should wait for reinforcements, and this time, more of them." Sans added.

"No way, I don't think we should go back down there at all, not with more, not with less. Just blow these things up! Drop a bomb on 'em." One officer argued.

"Where do we drop it?"

"He's right," Sans said, standing up from the curbside. "The whole point of us going in there was because we have no idea where those things are. There probably is a nest of them, and a big one I'd guess at that, and we needed to find it. Beta team, maybe they did, maybe they didn't. We don't know, so we still don't know where they are, but they sure as hell know where we are, and they know exactly how to strike us."

The men looked around an evaluated the site.

"What do you mean they know how to strike us?"

Sans shook his head.

"When they attacked the base, they killed fifty two men and they split. Not one of them died, but they also didn't take any of our men. Here," he continued, "they took out the surface while we are all in the tombs below! And they took every single body. They took out Beta team in a swarm! Thirty people in that team. They outnumbered them above and below. The things... I tell ya, it's like they...they...can think... they can plot what they want and how to do it."

"They didn't attack our groups because they were busy with the other two units," someone else added.

"Yeah," Sans agreed. "Take out some, get the rest later. We were all split up in different directions. There were enough of 'em that they had time to haul off the bodies."

"What d'ya s'pose they want with the bodies?" Someone asked.

Sans eyes drifted. He knew exactly what they wanted with the bodies. He had seen that already too. It was making perfect sense. They were, despite how horrific, fearsome, and deadly, simply animals, and the primary instinct of any animal was essentially the same.

"To breed," he said.

He looked at the crowd around him. "There's an egg field here, just like the one that came out on that damned video yesterday."

"They...they...said that was a prank," a young man in the crowd offered.

Sans raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, to keep the public calm. To cover their asses. 'Course they'd say it's a prank, makes perfect sense, you know. What would the public do if they found out about all this?"

"There'd be total panic."

"That's why we did this in the middle of the night. They evacuated the public, threw some bullshit story on the news about the hospital getting shut down cause of some lawsuit." Sans went on steamily.

"Wait, wait," another camouflaged soldier interrupted. "Wait, the people...when they get…. impregnated or whatever...they're alive right?"

Sans shrugged. He did not know, but he speculated.

"I guess so. The guys on my base were alive. They all got up, ate lunch...they were tired, but they walked around, I saw one guy jogging. Before they…. they died. All of 'em." His eyes grew glossy as they drifted into a deep recess, "They all died."

"But there' a chance, then..." the solider said, looking around at the vacant vehicles and empty streets. "There's a shot that all of those people they took are alive."

"Yeah, for now, right, but they'll all die. They're doomed to die. If they have one of those little fucking worm things in them, they're as good as dead." Another officer whispered morbidly.

"But, there's still a team down there! All our people," the man argued, pointing through the deserted streets. "We need to find them. We could probably save them."

Sans looked around at the two shaken teams that had emerged from the depths below, at the police officers who stared quietly in wide eyed disbelief.

"I don't think we can help them."

"So, what do we then?" Someone asked Sans.

Lewis blinked. He noticed that all eyes had fallen upon him and Lyle. He did not stop to even think about it, but amongst all the people standing on the street at that moment, they had the most experience with the _bugs_ , however limited. He took a step back and thought quietly for a moment, looking around.

"We need to wait to see what HQ says."

The men muttered amongst themselves, unhappy with Sans' choice. As they fretted, the Alpha team lead came trotting over to the group. The morning sun was just rising over the tops of the buildings and as more police officers arrived, local law enforcement gathered into their own group, proceeding with orders given to them from their superiors to be sure that no one enters the cordoned off area.

Sans overheard something about a no fly zone enforced, and the shaky officer warily headed off to their assigned stations.

"All right guys," the Alpha team leader said clearly as the groups around him began to gather. "Here's what the sups say to do. We need to wait here, secure the topside, and await backup. They're sending us reinforcements. I think we're going down the hole again to find the missing units."

Satisfied with that approach, many men nodded their approval and fidgeted where they stood. Sans quietly squeezed his eyes shut. He could feel his heart race again. He knew, somehow, deep down, that it was pointless and suicidal to head into the deep.


	9. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

The move in had passed smoothly and the girls had gotten their things organized, the apartment fairly decorated, and were already planning a small party.

Though the place had not started out as they expected, both girls had wanted a much larger apartment, Cassandra smiled as she looked around the one room studio. They were happy with the apartment, already used to its size, and to both the girls, the place was home.

Cassandra had taken that first weekday off from work and both she and Stephanie, who sounded very ill on the telephone when she phoned into work, had spent most of the day finishing their decorating and headed out onto the town in the evening hours.

Cassandra could feel her own eyes drift nervously towards televisions as she walked down the city streets, but nothing abnormal was being shown. She had personally managed to avoid any thoughts of horrible animals causing deaths and laying eggs in secluded ravines since she opened her eyes on Saturday morning.

She was one step closer to starting her first semester of fashion school, it was less than eight weeks away and she could not wait. He kept her attention focused between the start of college, decorating the apartment, and planning a party for the upcoming weekend

The following morning, she found herself locked out of Hi Style at just before nine o'clock. The glass doors were dead bolted together and the bars behind them were down. She frowned and looked up and down the street.

The city roads were busy as usual with too many cars jammed together on too narrow streets. Pedestrians bustled past her, some carrying their newspapers under their arms, others chatting on cell phones or walking dogs. It was life as normal, but the store was locked, Dan wasn't there, and she could not stop her mind from thinking that something horrible had happened.

Just as she felt her heart uncontrollably start to beat faster, she saw Dan practically jogging down the block to her, splashing a cup of cappuccino around in one hand and jingling the store keys in the other. She felt relieved to see him and her mild onset of fear washed away.

"Morning!" She said happily. "Everything all right?"

"Yea, sorry about that dear. Just running late. I got a late start."

"You look upset... are you okay?"

He nearly looked as though he might cry as he twisted the locks to the store open and pulled back the security bars.

"I'm...I'm fine... I just had this huge fight with Robert last night...well, actually we've been fighting most of the weekend."

"What have you been fighting about?"

He shrugged idly as he placed his drink on the counter and dropped his belongings behind the front counter while Cassandra punched in.

"Oh, it's nothing, dear."

The two worked on opening the store as Cassandra pressed Dan for more information, certain that something awful had happened.

"He's just... he's never been a big supporter of this store, you know. He doesn't like how much of my time it takes up. He would just rather me be a stay at home mom or something. Sometimes I just don't know what he wants. I do everything I can to keep him happy, but it just isn't enough..."

Cassandra smirked. She felt bad for him, but she had always felt hat he could do much better than Robert.

"Oh, sorry, I don't mean to dump this on you... I think he's just on edge because of all of this... this...stuff going on." He tapped the newspaper on the counter top.

Cassandra shut her eyes. She had forgotten. She had wanted to forget. She tried very hard to ignore and tune out everything over this past weekend that did not concern her. Now she was drawn into the conversation and somewhere deep inside a morbid curiosity was turned on and she asked the question without any hesitation.

"What happened?" She asked without turning to face him. She kept her eye on the shirts she was straightening.

"You didn't hear?"

"Well, I mean... I moved into my apartment this weekend, you know... so I didn't really..."

"Oh! I forgot!" Dan seemed to light up. "How did it go? What's it like? And what color curtains did you end up, oh, and that sofa, what was like?"

Cassandra smiled. She was not quite sure if Dan was really that interested in her apartment, or just needed a distraction from the newspaper article and his fight with Robert. She described the new place to him and filled him in on all of the decorating details.

"Well it sounds lovely anyway. Maybe a little small, but lovely."

Jennifer and Risi entered the store just then and the topics of the newspaper were forgotten. It wasn't until Cassandra had slid behind the counter to ring up a customer hours later that her eye caught a glimpse of the newspaper. When the customer signed the credit pad and headed out of the store, Cassandra felt her hand reach for the newspaper. She glanced around to be sure no one was near then suddenly realized how silly that seemed.

Some subconscious part of her was acting like the newspaper was some secret document that no one should dare be allowed to peek over her shoulder and see. She glanced at the headline, which declared prominently that part of Philadelphia had been evacuated sometime late Friday night.

 _...no press are being allowed beyond any barricades and this reporter was able to discover that a no fly zone had been initiated sometime in the early Saturday morning hours. Local police have been on guard non stop around the area, which has grown in size from the original evacuation on Friday night, when only a ten block radius was cleared. Police have evacuated an even larger radius in response to concerns over natural gas leaking._

 _Local residents did report hearing high pitched hissing sounds and feeling ground tremos. Authorities attribute the tremors to leaks in faulty underground pipelines, and by this newspaper's press time this Tuesday morning, a forty block radius of Philadelphia neighborhood has been cleared._

 _Officials offer no correlation between these evacuations, the closing of the Mercy Hospital one week ago, and the dangerous new species of parasitic animal that has been threatening our lives for the last three weeks._

 _Citizens are being provided shelter in local churches, civic centers and any other area large enough to house those that had been forced from their homes._

The article went on to discuss much speculation. Cassandra never looked up from the paper as she flipped to page two, which offered editorials and commentaries that brought up some concerning points.

 _Local police maintain that an untraceable natural gas leak has forced the city to displace residents from the ever expanding area radius around Mercy Hospital. Authorities reassure use that crews are working diligently to trace the source of the leak, but will not offer any more information._

"It's weird isn't it?" Jennifer asked suddenly from behind Cassandra who jumped. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you! Are you alright?"

Cassandra nodded and forced a small smile. "Yeah, I'm fine... just didn't see you." Her eyes drifted back to the newspaper. "Weird."

"I think they're covering up something... something big," Dan added in as he came over to the counter. "The whole thing has everybody acting a little weird, I think. That's what I think is wrong with Robert lately. He doesn't believe the gas leak thing either."

"Don't you?" Cassandra asked.

"I've never heard before of a gas leak forcing forty blocks of people out of their homes."

"They're just trying to be safe," Cassandra shrugged.

Even with all the different opinions and speculations floating around that Cassandra had begun to hear as she tuned the world back in over the rest of the week, no one had any solid answers. By the end of the week, it had been reported that the military was involved in the evacuation of that part of Philadelphia.

Though many reporters seemed to question the necessity for a military presence for a simple gas leak, no solid answers were announced to the presses to completely define the ongoing problem.

Cassandra tried not to develop an opinion, she just preferred to tune the situation out, and keep on track with normal life. Philadelphia was a short drive from New York City, and it made her uncomfortable to think that it was possible that something related to the deadly animals was going on so close to home.

She ignored more reports about similar situations rising up in other cities. The reports of missing persons, heightened police and military activities were growing and perhaps only slightly overindulged by doomsday type scenarios.

It was hard to know what even real. Reports varied from talk of a disease to a parasite and anytime one story popped up about evacuations, military movements, fires, explosions, even suspected bombings, another ten stories came out saying none of it was true.

There had been no word throughout New York City about anything related to the animals that Cassandra saw, and for that she was thankful. The only thing she noticed were reports of growing numbers of missing persons, a few subways that had been shut down due to mechanical troubles which caused inconveniences for commuters, and many conspiracy theories which she tuned out.

It seemed like most of it was blowing over. There were no more wild videos of egg fields or talks about facehugging hatchlings.

Cassandra walked with Stephanie around a grocery store to stock up on foods and drinks for the party they were planning on having finally; a sort of one week anniversary of the new apartment.

It was going to be a small event, with only a handful of friends. Cassandra was nervous about seeing Kyle again, but Stephanie acted as though she was ready to have David move in with them.

They walked home with arms full of bags and treaded the stairs up to their top floor room, talking happily about tomorrow night's event. Stephanie tried to pry details out of Cassandra regarding her intentions with Kyle, but she avoided responded.

Ignoring her friend completely, but smiling all the same, Cassandra tucked herself into the daybed on one side of the room while Stephanie pulled a sheet around her on the white round couch bed near the large set of windows at the front of the room.

Cassandra woke with a leap from the bed. A loud crashing sound filled her ears. It sounded like a bomb had just been dropped in the living room.

"Woah!"

"Sorry!" Stephanie said quickly as she bent down behind the small kitchenette counter top.

"What are you doing?" Cassandra gasped as she caught her breath and started towards the kitchen.

"I just dropped... oh no..."

"Oh man, what happened?"

"I didn't think it looked good there, so I was trying to move it...oh geez." Stephanie said as she sat back on the ground, staring at the broken pieces of their large and ugly microwave.

Cassandra smiled and started giggling and Stephanie soon joined her.

"Well, it was ugly anyway." Stephanie said.

"You know what; I want to go out today, so I can buy a new one and get it delivered." Cassandra said.

She was going over her clothes in the armoire near her bed and suddenly decided that nothing she owned was good enough to be seen in by Kyle tonight. She wanted to give it another try with him, so a shopping trip would be in order.

After she woke fully and carefully dressed herself Cassandra headed off to find a perfect new outfit while Stephanie met with David for the afternoon at the apartment.

Cassandra spent over two hours going from store to store trying to creature the perfect outfit. She could not quite come up with the right set of clothes, and had so far only managed to buy a lovely little tank top.

She decided she would head to the fashion district to find the right material for a skirt, but first she stepped through the door into the Midtown Mall for a new pair of shoes and some quick lunch.

She pulled open the glass door into the mall, walked through a crowded glass lobby, and strolled along the walkways, weaving around kiosks selling miscellaneous clothing, perfumes, hermit crabs and cell phones. She diligently glanced through the display windows of the many shops along the lowest level of the mall, awaiting something to catch her eye.

With shoes on her mind, and shoe stores up on the second floor, Cassandra headed to the elevators. She shopped from store to store, browsing and contemplating the perfect outfit and just exactly her intentions would be with Kyle that night.

After a new pair of shoes, lunch, and a few other small purchases, Cassandra returned to the elevators on the top level of the mall and waited with a small crowd for the slow moving glass elevator to ding. She glanced idly around watching people pass by along the walkways, eyeing what each wore before she noticed a display window featuring a lovely evening gown on a mannequin woman.

As she stared off at the mannequin, she noticed to her left a man sitting on a small bench coughing ever more loudly as the seconds ticked on.

He was a rough looking man, with dirty jeans, a stubbly short beard growing in on his slightly heavy set face, and dark slicked back hair. His red, runny eyes were adorned with large black bags underneath, giving the impression the man had not slept for days.

He had the look about him like a construction worker, she found herself staring at him and she was not sure why. He kept coughing, breathing raggedly.

The elevator dinged and Cassandra jumped slightly at the sound, forced her eyes away from the man and waited as one cluster of shoppers departed the lift and some of the small crowd around her jammed themselves inside.

She stepped forward, but there was still a small crowd in front her, including a woman with a baby carriage and there was just no way she, nor anyone else, was going to fit into the packed tiny elevator.

As the doors slid shut and Cassandra she sighed and suddenly found her eyes drifting back to the scruffy man on the bench. Now she knew why she couldn't stop looking at him. She wondered if she was the only person that saw it.

Cassandra glanced at the small group near to her with wide eyes, a questioning look on her face, but the people around her seemed to be making sure they did not look in the direction of the sick man, as though it would cause immediate blindness to those who looked upon him.

Cassandra found herself watching him again. He kept his eyes to his knees and did not see her. She overlooked him once again, scanning from his muddy boots to smudged jeans and dirty green t-shirt, which he was stroking with his thick fingers as he coughed again.

She frowned and stepped forward, deeper into the small crowd, and closer to the elevator doors, pushing her way to be first in, eagerly awaiting its arrival. She glanced to the stairwell at the other end of the mall and decided she would take the steps up instead, but just as she turned the elevator arrived.

Cassandra pushed herself past the departing load and turned to watch the small crowd file in after her. The woman with the baby carriage entered followed by an elderly couple and two young boys. From just beside the door she could see the coughing dirty man from the bench get up.

She silently found herself hoping the doors would shut before he got on. She did not want him in the little glass tube with her, but the man's raspy voice called out to hold the door and he stepped over the threshold.

The doors shut behind him and the man turned around, back to Cassandra and coughed again as he tried to thank the old man that had pressed the door hold button.

"You ok?" The old man said to him.

"Need some water I think," the dirty man said as he reached forward and hit the number two, it had a little food court sticker next to the button.

As the elevator started down, the man's coughing grew worse. The woman shifted her baby carriage slightly trying to keep the sleeping child well away from the obviously sick man. The man's coughing worsened and Cassandra decided that the elevator's descent to the second floor was taking far too long.

The two young boys next to her exchanged glances at the man as he coughed harder and harder. Then they suddenly twisted their faces. As the man lurched forward and nearly toppled over Cassandra could see little speckles of blood on the elevator doors.

"He's coughing up blood," one of the boys said.

"Hey buddy, you need a doctor or something?" The elderly man said sharply.

The dirty man responded with only a groan of agony as his knees hit the ground and he coughed furiously. The elevator doors dinged open but only the woman with the baby carriage tried to make an escape. No one from the small crowd outside dared enter the elevator.

All eyes dropped to the ground and focused on the man that was now writhing and moaning in sheer agony, coughing up blood, half in and half out of the elevator. Someone shouted in surprise. Cassandra heard voices call out to dial 911.

The baby in the carriage that the woman was trying to shuffle out of the little elevator suddenly woke, crying terribly, obviously startled by the moaning man on the ground and the forceful shoving of her carriage out the door.

Cassandra could not move. She watched with wide eyed fear, next to the two young boys and the elderly couple. Someone outside the elevator shouted for help again and one man knelt beside the writhing and gagging man on the floor.

"Jesus! We need a doctor! Somebody help!"

Cassandra stared at the man on the ground as she started to feel shaky, flush, weak. She watched as his eyes rolled back into his head and a sickening gurgle rose out from his bloody mouth. Suddenly the man's dirty green shirt moved.

Cassandra jumped backwards into the elevator glass with a gasp. The man howled one time and throbbed wildly as though he was having a seizure.

She could not draw her eyes away from the man's green shirt. The center of the shirt was rising up as though a hand was underneath pushing it up in pulsing spasms. She did not notice that the man had stopped moving even as security officers came towards the elevator and the kneeling man shouted out to them.

"I think he's dead!"

Someone outside the elevator screamed wretchedly, and the baby in the carriage, still unable to get through totally cried harder than ever. Cassandra watched as the man's green shirt started to get a slick, wet appearance and turn very black.

She felt sick as she realized that his shirt was filling with blood. She could not stop her body from shaking or the tears from welling up in her eyes.

Suddenly, without warning, a tremendous crunching sound filled the small space as though everyone within earshot had grabbed a handful of dry branches and snapped them on cue, the loud sound filled all their ears.

Cassandra squeezed her eyes shut and jerked her head back as the people outside the elevator screamed. She lifted her shaky hands to her face and wiped away many drops of something wet from her cheeks.

She opened her eyes and saw her hands red with blood and she trembled horribly. A terrible hissing sound filled the air and the panicked screaming of nearly a dozen frightened people running away caught her attention. Her eyes dropped to the floor again and she saw a bloody, horrible head sticking up from a deep hole in the man's chest.

Cassandra could not well up enough power to scream. She watched the thing look around with black deep set eyes and saw the gleaming shine of metal looking dagger-like teeth in the things mouth. One of the security officers forcibly pushed his way towards the few remaining people that had not yet run off.

He shouted to them to clear the way. Trapped on the far side of the elevator with the dead body and horrible little monster in between her and her escape, Cassandra dared not move.

She did not hear the other security officer shout to her to get out and she barely felt his arm latch onto hers as he pulled her around the side of the elevator and shoved her out the door.

Suddenly the two men in the lift jumped back and pinned themselves to the wall, shouting. The worm like monster that had emerged from the dead man's chest pulled itself free from the body and jettisoned off with lightening quick speed.

It cleared a path through the screaming people at the elevator and darted down the hallway past the stopped shoppers who were watching from a distance.

Screams filled the hallway as people leapt from side to side, jumped through doorways and onto benches, scattering every which way to avoid the bloody little monster that sped past them. The thing turned suddenly down a corridor that led to restrooms and back rooms.

Several men, including some mall security darted down the hallway to follow the little thing. From the other end of the hallway, police officers came bolting through the crowds, some taking off in pursuit of the monster, following the trial of blood the thing left on the tile floor of the mall.

Other police officers stopped at the elevators and immediately began to push the crowds back. One officer came over to Cassandra. She could still feel herself shaking. The officer looked into her pale white, blood covered face and wide eyes.

"Hey, you okay?"

She shook wildly and the officer helped her sit on a bench.

"Jesus," another policeman said, kneeling next to the body in the elevator.

Cassandra glanced at the dead body and broke down sobbing as she watched the man who helped her down reach for his radio. Gun shots rang out from the back of the mall somewhere from behind the storefronts and panicked screaming people ran for their lives. Cassandra leapt up and stared off in the direction of the shots.

"What's going on Jack?" One of the officers next to her yelled into his radio.

The voice on the other end informed all that could hear, "I missed the thing. It's gone."

Cassandra tried hard to catch her breath and stop her body from shaking. She wandered off as the officers called into their radio. She did not focus on where she was going or where any of her shopping bags were. She just walked, slowly, away from the whole scene.

Cassandra found herself at her apartment door at nearly nightfall. She knocked on the door as though it were a stranger's house. A wide eyed and worried faced Stephanie tore the door open. Cassandra barely noticed.

"Oh my God, Cassy!" Stephanie reached her arms out to her friend as David and Kyle and other members of the band came darting forward.

Kyle grabbed hold of Cassandra and carried her to the sofa.

"I'll get a wet towel," Stephanie said and quickly headed off as Kyle wiped the blood on Cassandra's face with his hand.

"Hey? You there?" He said to her.

He snapped his fingers to get her attention. She shivered and shifted her body to a more comfortable position and tried again at wiping her face. Her hands shook furiously as she whimpered and saw the blood on them.

"Oh God," she whispered as she started to cry. "It was horrible!"

"It's been all over the news," Kyle said.

"We've been worried sick about you! You've been gone so long!" Stephanie said, sitting next to her and patting her face with a damp towel.

Cassandra looked into her eyes. "Long?"

"Yeah, Cass," Kyle said, "It's eight-thirty! What the hell happened? W here did you go?"

"I...I...," she tried hard to think of what had happened.

Her mind wasn't working right. She had no idea so many hours had passed. It was not quite noon when she stepped into the mall and now she was home so much later.

"I just walked home."

"Didn't anyone stop you?" Stephanie asked surprised. "You have blood all over."

"I do?" Cassandra questioned plainly as she looked down at her clothes.

She never noticed that her once yellow tank top and her well-tanned skin were covered in dried blood. She started to shake again and tried to wipe the blood away.

"I need to shower!" She said frantically, eyes red and dripping tears.

She pushed herself up from the sofa and tore her shirt off as she darted into the bathroom and slammed the door shut.

The water ran for close to an hour.

Outside the door, the group of friends watched the news reports and special reports that continued to fill the airway.

Every news station was broadcasting from the same location, outside the downtown Manhattan mall, where they all maintained that this was the first reported fatality caused by the parasitic animals in over two weeks anywhere in or near New York City.

They watched the reports silently and discussed what was going on during commercial breaks.

"Some party, huh?" Stephanie muttered.

"It's alright," David said.

"She okay in there?" Kyle asked, nudging his head towards the door the bathroom.

Stephanie smirked, "She always takes a while..."

Kyle got up and headed over to the door, he listened for a moment then knocked softly.

"Cassandra?" he called out. "You O.K.?"

"I'm fine," a distant voice from inside the small room said softly.

"You wanna...talk...or somethin'?" Kyle offered while the others in the room watched.

The door opened and Cassandra emerged wrapped snugly a cotton robe.

"I'm fine...I'll be okay. I just don't ever want anything like that to happen again."

"Hopefully it won't." Kyle said with a soft smile.

The group sat together and talked for a while. Periodically the phone would ring and Stephanie would cut the conversation short with the curious friends were trying to find out the details about Cassandra and what had happened.

"Did you call them all and cancel the party?" Cassandra asked after the third phone call.

"Well yeah," Stephanie shrugged. "We didn't know what happened to you."

"With the missing person alerts all the time, we got really worried," Kyle said. "Didn't know where to look for you."

"And you didn't answer your phone." Stephanie said.

Cassandra's eyes flickered wide. "Oh...oh no... I lost it..."

"Your phone?" Stephanie questioned.

"Everything, my purse... where's my purse? Did I have it on me when I came in?"

"No...no you didn't."

"Did you black out or something?" Kyle interrupted.

"I don't know." Cassandra whispered, staring at him.

"Don't worry, we'll get it taken care of, alright," Stephanie reassured her.

"Yeah, I just...really want to rest now." Cassandra said and she set herself into her daybed.

Stephanie rubbed Cassandra's shoulder supportively and looked over the boys. 

"Maybe… maybe you guys should leave," she said with an apologetic grimace.

Without much complaint, the boys got up.

"Yeah, well, we're gonna' go hang out a bit," Peter and the rest of the band boys stood and said their goodbyes.

David sat with Stephanie for a while longer trying to convince her to go out with them and leave Cassandra to rest. After several refusals the boys left.

In the morning when Cassandra opened her eyes, she saw Stephanie sitting bolt upright on the couch and Kyle pacing the room behind herself and the television. Both looked as though they were watching the most intense movie ever created and seemed very concerned about it.

"What's going on?"

Both heads zipped towards her.

"You don't want to know." Stephanie said quietly as she turned her head back to the television.

"Hey, how you feeling, Cass?" Kyle asked.

"I'm..." she took a deep breath. "What's going on?"

She stood up and crossed the short distance towards the television. She stopped next to Kyle and glanced at the screen.

'SPECIAL REPORT' was written in very large red writing at the bottom of the screen and the woman reporting looked horrified at what she was reading.

"Once again," the woman said, "officials are warning _everyone_ , affected areas or otherwise, to stay in their homes. Do _not_ leave your houses until this situation can be controlled. We will bring you the most up to the minute information we can, but for now, it is being strongly urged that all persons seek shelter behind secure doors and remain there until further notice. We're now going live once again to Philadelphia."

Another reporter stood in the lobby of a large indoor stadium. Behind him, Cassandra could see through the double doors that led into the arena. The place was filled with people, but they were not getting ready for some big game; they were victims of a great disaster. The reporter's hands shook as he raised the microphone to his mouth and started his broadcast.

"It is important that viewers know that keeping calm is essential in a situation like this."

"A situation like this?" Kyle barked. "Like this has ever happened before."

"Shhh!" Stephanie waved her hand dismissively.

"Behind me is the Philadelphia Arena, where we have all been escorted to by local and government officials. There has been havoc here most of the week, and last night, a large group of these … these….mysterious animals…. forced many people off the streets and into the stadium as a make shift shelter. Many other areas of the country have reported large swarms of these highly dangerous and aggressive animals."

The anchor at the station interjected, "Michael, do you know what the animals are exactly?"

The man pursed his lips, paused, shook his head. "No, Marcia, reports are very conflicted. They aren't bees, or crabs, or spiders. It's hard to really know at this point if this is some kind of prehistoric dinosaur or something entirely different.

I've heard eyewitnesses report everything from snakes to terrible fanged animals bigger than a human being. At this point, I do know the military has moved into the area to contain the situation, not only here, but also in other parts of the country suffering large scale infestations. Out the door…"

The camera turned suddenly, and the reporter continued. "You can see tanks and military vehicles. Now, they're not letting us out of here at this point, but…"

"What the hell kind of animals need tanks to control them?" Kyle added in again.

"It's not to control the animals." Cassandra said shakily, the bloody images of the man's exploding chest filling her mind. "They're to control the people."

Silence filled the room for a moment before the reporter's voice registered again.

"I've been informed that Los Angeles, San Diego, areas of Arizona, Texas, Georgia, at least a dozen other states are receiving military help with this outbreak."

"They act like it's a disease," Kyle said.

Cassandra dropped to the ground and watched the television in horror.

"They're everywhere, Cassandra," Stephanie informed her.

"They've been waiting for this..." Cassandra whispered to no one in particular.

"What? What do you mean?" Kyle asked.

"All those missing person reports... it... it... makes perfect sense now." She started.

Vivid images rushed into her mind. She saw the eggs, the original reports from now three weeks ago, and watched that dirty coughing man drop to his knees in the elevator over and over and over in her mind and she began to understand.

"They're like...like...locusts or something. They need us, humans, animals...whatever, to breed in. Those eggs… the things that hatch out of them do something to whatever it attaches to. It implants the person... and then that worm thing comes out of your chest."

She pressed her hands to her chest as though one of those monsters was preparing to leap from beneath her ribs.

"Then it grows inside you, and hatches out. I know I saw it. I was a...hatchling... it was horrible. It just exploded out of the man's chest…." Her words drifted off and she began to shake and turn pale.

"Cassandra," Kyle asked quietly and slowly, "What did it look like?"

She lifted her eyes to him and took a moment to come up with the words.

"It was like... a snake with horrible sharp teeth and beady little black eyes. The thing hissed at us..."

"I don't get it," Kyle said, glancing to Stephanie.

"What? It makes sense," Cassandra said.

"Well..." Kyle started but drifted off.

"What?"

"Cassy," Stephanie said quietly. "These things don't look like snakes."

"What do you mean? I saw it..." her eyes grew wide.

"They'll probably show it again here real soon. Some army guys shot one I guess. They're...huge." Kyle added.

"Huge? How big?" Cassandra asked, but the conversation quieted down once again as their eyes fell upon the screen when the reporter said something about New York City, and Stephanie let out a loud, "Shh!"

"... with over five hundred confirmed on the missing person list, the Mayor is urging all resident to stay calm, remain inside and follow the official recommendations to remain indoors until the situation quiets down. The President is scheduled to address the nation in about thirty minutes."

They waited, watching the reports and listening to the list of the states affected. The news report switched to a local broadcast showing overrun grocery stores in Manhattan, police in full gear, SWAT teams, and military vehicles all lining the streets, prepping for major activity.

Panicked people were frantically running through the aisles, filling their carts with bread, water, other essentials, acting as though the building was burning down around them while a reporter interviewed them.

Thirty minutes dragged on. Cassandra found herself pacing the room right along with Kyle, sometimes glancing out the windows onto the streets below. People did not seem to be following the official advice to stay indoors.

Cars were driving up and down the streets hurriedly and midtown Manhattan was alive and bustling. Cassandra strained her eyes to see up and down the street from one side to another. She could see people walking around, traffic coming and going.

Despite the broadcast of completely frightened people being interviewed and screaming about the end of the world into the camera, life looked normal below Cassandra's window.

Perhaps if all of the normal living people down below had been at the mall yesterday afternoon, perhaps if they had wandered home in a state of shock, covered with a stranger's blood, they would pay more heed to the advice from the reporters and get indoors.

Cassandra glanced back at the television and watched a military official discuss the situation with the reporter.

Suddenly the screen flicked to a recognizable official room, the President's podium in the center of the screen, and an overfilled room full of reporters. The Secretary of Defense began with a small speech and a quick session of answering some questions before the President took to the podium.

"Good Morning." He started with a casual smile.

"Let me begin by saying that our Nation's military have been deployed to any affected areas needing assistance, and we are doing everything we can to bring this situation to a quick end. We expect to have all those citizens that have been evacuated to shelter areas back into their homes soon.

Meanwhile, I personally urge every American citizen to keep indoors, remain calm, do not panic, for there is no need. I understand that many people will want to stock up on food and supplies, this is not necessary, this situation is quickly coming under control, and I again urge all citizens not to panic. Simply remain indoors until this situation has passed."

"He's acting like this is a storm that's going to blow over," Stephanie whispered.

"Maybe it will," Cassandra added and fell quiet again to listen to the continued speech.

The President finished and allowed reporters to ask their questions. While some questions, regarding the animal carcass that had been displayed all over the media, he did not answer, other questions about quarantine, he strongly answered.

"Quarantine of any area at this time is absolutely unwarranted. There is no disease outbreak. This is a temporary situation, and people in affected areas have been temporarily evacuated to give our military time to bring this to a resolution. Quarantine is completely unwarranted."

The next reporter called upon asked the one, truly probably the most unanswerable, question on everyone's mind, and it quieted the room.

"Mr. President, do you still feel that these animals were strategically planted in this and other countries by terrorists?"

The President licked his lips and sighed deeply. Avoiding the question nearly completely, he responded, "We have been working on defining a point of origin for these animals to aide in their eradication. Thank you, that's all the time I have right now."

"What the hell does that mean?" Stephanie questioned.

"It means he has no clue." Kyle added angrily.

Cassandra fell quiet and turned away from the television. She watched the people in the streets below.

"Do you want me to stay?" Kyle asked her quietly, rubbing her shoulder gently.

"Won't your parents worry?" Cassandra asked.

"I'll call them, they'll be fine with it."

She smiled at him and he did head over to the telephone.

"So now what, Cass?" Stephanie questioned as Kyle walked away.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, what are we gonna do?"

Cassandra shrugged, "Just stay here for a while, hopefully this will all pass soon. Where's David?"

"Nobody knows," Stephanie answered warily. She paused for a moment before continuing. "Do you really think this is all going to pass over?" Stephanie asked pessimistically.

"I just want it to," Cassandra sighed. "That thing I saw yesterday, it was so horrible. It killed that man, he was in so much pain. Oh God Steph, it was awful."

"Well," she started but her eyes turned to the television and her words drifted off.

Cassandra looked at the screen and she felt her heart skip into her throat. There on the monitor, a ghastly image of a tattered black carcass lay strewn in a street. Military men in the background were scurrying about and one man came and shooed the cameraman away.

The reporter ran to the officer, asking so many questions so quickly it was hard to understand his words. As the camera backed away, it maintained a view on the tattered corpse.

The reporter came on after the camera lost its view of the carcass in the street in Philadelphia. She reiterated to the viewers tuned in that the animal was shot at some point undefined earlier in the week by a group of military stationed in a cordoned off area of Philadelphia.

"You know, the papers said that the area of Philly that's been evacuated is all right around that hospital hat was shut down last week. They had these...whatever you want to call them..." Cassandra added aloud.

"Well, it looks like they've overrun the area." Kyle said.

"This is really scary. I hope this all does end soon." Stephanie said.

"Yeah, I hope so too." Cassandra agreed.


	10. Chapter 9

**CHAPTER NINE**

Carlos Murray, former head physician of the Mercy Hospital of Philadelphia stepped out onto the evacuated street just beyond the building's doors. The afternoon sun shone brightly. The weather was excessively hot for the first weekend in July, but it did not compare to the heat he felt from the people he greeted just a block down from the entrance to the emergency room.

He stared at the building for a moment, surprised, in fact that he was seeing it again. Somehow, the hospital he stared at no longer seemed to be the same place he had dedicated the last twenty years of his life to. That building was a bustling, often chaotic place that required almost limitless attention, but brought with it many rewards.

The building he stared at now was dark and ominous, empty and foreboding. A flash of something horrible, twisted, black, with saliva dripping from a set of metallic looking teeth crawling out of the very pits of Hell flickered in his mind.

When the place was evacuated just a few days ago, after several police officers and an unknown number of hospital employees had disappeared into the black depths of the empty train tunnels below the building by the horrible black reincarnation of the devil itself, it was then that Murray was hustled away by the military, who had taken a vested interested in this situation.

He was given no details from those who took him, but he was asked for every bit of information he knew. As a living witness, they apparently had figured he knew much more than he actually offered.

Murray unfortunately could only tell them what he knew, which was very little. When he was brought back to the place after nearly two hundred well armed officers had disappeared on Saturday night, he felt chills run through his spine.

"Dr. Murray?" A uniformed man approached him. "Follow me, please."

The man did not introduce himself, but Carlos saw the man's name on his fatigues. L. Sans. He followed the officer down the street to a small tent that had been propped up in the middle of the street and shook hands with the man inside.

"Here's our situation, we're hoping you could help." The man started. "During the overnight, we sent squadrons of soldiers to investigate the possibility that these …things… have created some kind of a hive below the hospital. We lost one squadron below ground, and the entire topside base as well. Every single person was gone. One hundred eighty in total."

Murray swallowed, glanced around, but said nothing. He was not sure why he was here. Though he had been questioned over the last four and half days for his medical knowledge about the victims of the parasitic creature and remained in military 'protection' during that time, he was not informed of where he was headed for when he was loaded into a sedan that morning.

"We are organizing a better armed team to head back down there. They have two orders. One, bring back any and all living souls they can find. Two, blast these goddamned things off the map."

Murray nodded. It sounded like a reasonable plan.

"Now, you are here doctor, for your previous experience with these things."

"What do you mean?"

"We have a full medical facility set up back there," he pointed with his thumb behind his shoulder, indicating that the tents behind the small one the two men stood in were make shift medical centers. "From what we have gathered about these creatures' life cycle, and from your experiences with them, we want to team medical knowledge together."

"I'm afraid I don't understand," Murray said shaking his hand. "I don't know anything about these things. I've only..."

"You've only seen nearly every stage of the life cycle of these monsters. You know more than I do, Sir, right now."

Murray looked at the officer in wide eyed wonder. "What?"

"They start as eggs; that much we all know. The crablike things, which I believe you are acquainted with already," he said and Murray nodded, "are the spawn of those eggs. These are the stage two development of the parasites. They then implant their host victim with the stage three, the worm like larvae that emerges from the host's chest."

Murray nodded. "Yes, yes...they impregnate their host. And at gestation," he shut his eyes, "roughly twelve hours after...impregnation, the embryo within reaches full gestation and emerges from the host body, killing the host."

The General filled in the rest.

"We believe that the creature is sort of like...like a caterpillar... it undergoes morphosis. We have visual verification that the hatchling sheds its skin several times, and that with in an unbelievably small amount of time it reaches the final, adult stage."

"How short of a time?" Murray asked inquisitively.

"Based on past experience with the creatures, two hours. These things grow quick and are fatal from the start."

"So again, what can I do to help? All of the victims I had with these...face huggers... on their heads, they all died upon maturity of the embryo within. They burst through the chest, literally exploding the chest cavity, the heart, the lungs, everything. I cannot help you. I don't have the answer you are looking for."

"We are sending our troops below to eradicate any bugs they find,"

"Bugs?" Murray questioned.

"Bugs." The officer stated, nodding. "And bring back any parasitized men they can. We want you, along with our medical team to surgically remove the embryo."

Murray contemplated this for a moment. It was almost a feasible idea, in retrospect, had he known what would happen to his original victims, he probably would have tried that very thing. Now, however, he took time to contemplate the officer's proposal.

"Any problem with that?" The impatient man questioned after a long pause.

"Well, quite frankly, yes. I have no idea at all if what you want is possible. I mean, the...the...face hugger things, I tried to surgically remove _that_ and the damned thing dripped acid from the cut I made. It burned clean through my scalpel, through the table, through the floor and the next floor and the next floor and the next floor, it went all the way down to the air ducts in the basement. If this embryo lives like a parasite off the human host, odds are they'll die anyway. If I go in and try to cut it off, it would risk spilling acid into the person's chest! Either way they'll die."

"Which means you have nothing to lose."

He quieted down and stared blankly at the man in front of him.

"If it is a known fact that impregnated victim will die with no medical attention, then trying to remove the things will risk nothing. If they die, they were going to anyway. But we are holding out that perhaps a way can be found to save impregnated victims. Doctor, understand this now... if these things continue to propagate, and kill, we humans will become the minority on this planet."

"Well," Murray took a deep sigh as he stared out into the open street at the troops that were forming up. "What about all the animals?"

"Excuse me?"

"These things are breeding in animals too," Murray added in with a 'don't you realize' sort of look and tone. "Anything big enough that they can get ahold of, they will reproduce inside. Something needs to be done about that. But I will try to remove the embryo if your men bring me someone back alive."

Murray shook hands with the military officer and stepped out of the tent. He watched the troops quietly organizing for a moment, then walked down the street to where the carcass lay of the animal that was killed in the street earlier this morning.

"Hi again," he said warily to the private who has escorted him. "Who shot this thing?"

"Don't know," Sans said. "Was dead up here when he got topside, everyone else was gone."

"Oh, I see. Does it have acid for blood, too?"

Sans looked the doctor dead in the eye and nodded. "One guy got his hand dissolved just from touching it. He's missing two fingers and most of his palm now."

Murray nodded.

"Who are you?"

"Carlos Murray. Head...well, I used to be head of the Mercy Hospital," he indicated to the building behind him.

"Name's Sans, Private Lewis Sans."

They shook hands.

"Where were you during all this?" Murray asked.

"Down below. We're going back down in a little while."

"Yes, I heard."

The two men stared at the tattered corpse on the ground.

"Ugly things aren't they?" Sans said in a quiet whisper as he shuffled his rifle around in his hands.

"Yea. They are."

"First time seeing one?" He asked the doctor, noting his increasingly paling face.

"No, I saw two of them. Tuesday, when they took..." Murray fell silent and stared at the thing on the ground, trying to make sense of its twisted black body.

"You?"

Sans nodded his head. "Seen one back at my base, in Virginia. They killed a lot of people that night."

Murray looked at the young officer and tried to put on as certain of a face as he could. "I am going to try to find a way to save the victims."

Sans nodded, "I hope you do."

"Bring me someone back," Murray said. "And son, bring yourself back."

Sans smiled gratefully for the consideration.

"I'll try."

"Who's that?" Murray asked, pointing to a pair of men peering around a building.

"Damn it! Reporters!" Sans trotted over to the man with the small camera in his hand. "Excuse me, you can't be here!"

The other man leapt from around the corner of the building, bombarding Sans with questions. He ignored the reporter and fought with the camera man who was pressing closer to the corpse of the black animal on the street. More men were coming over quickly to remove the two trespassers.

Sans forcibly ripped the camera from the hand of the camera man and military police took both men into custody. The general that had been sent to replace the last one took the camera from Sans immediately and disappeared with it into the back of one of the vehicles.

Sans walked back over to Murray, who watched the whole scene with a clenched jaw.

"This is losing control." Sans whispered to him. "Do you think we're gonna win this?"

Murray raised his eyebrows, "Win? I don't think this is a war. It's an…..infestation. These are _animals._ What do you think?"

"I don't know what I think. I tell ya what I _don't_ think anymore."

"What's that?"

Sans thought back to the radar blip the night these eggs showed up.

"I don't think they're here by chance."

"Why's that?" Murray asked, curiosity piqued.

"This isn't random. The affected areas," Lewis said in a whisper, carefully eyeballing his surroundings to make sure no one was nearby before he continued. "…they aren't just random. There's a.. a pattern, almost a straight line. Like they were dropped from …." He paused.

He had studied the dispersal area, just had others. He knew what he was saying, though it might sound crazy, had an undeniable validity, but he still did not know, or could not fathom or accept, how the animals truly did arrive.

He continued on after a pause to try to form appropriate words.

"Dropped from?" Murray asked, pressing Sans for his thoughts.

"An airplane." Sans said simply, dropping his hands down towards his waist, in a fashion that indicated maybe he did not exactly believe it was an airplane that was responsible.

"Uhh.." Murray stammered. "What?"

"Little known fact is that most of the bases around the country monitored a weird radar blip in the middle of the night, the same night these things...these eggs showed up. They weren't just laid by one of the adults, they were delivered here."

Murray nodded, "Yea, I've heard that. Terrorists, right?"

"No..." Sans said deeply. "No way terrorists could do this," he added with a more certain tone. "I've never seen anything like it. Never."

"So what are you saying, Lewis?"

Sans fell quiet. A glaring voice over a megaphone called the troops together.

"It's time."

"Good luck." Murray said before Lewis trotted off.

They shook hands.

Murray watched a full force of officers gather in the streets. Just over two hundred eager men waited their chance to shoot the alien animals into oblivion. The group quietly listened to their orders.

"We believe that the creatures may be residing in the deeper tunnels to the east of the building. This is where the previous team in those tunnels reported seeing a large group of the animals."

Sans listened quietly to the General's unprovocative way of saying that in those tunnels, the Beta team from earlier in the morning had been completely wiped out by a swarm of nearly nine foot tall acid blood, razor toothed, barbed tailed monsters.

"You will enter the tunnels through a series of manholes. Bring back any victims alive that you can find, and kill any of these bugs that you encounter."

He waited a moment before saying, "Go people!"

The team moved out in unison and found their entrance just about a block down from their gathering point in the street. When Sans' turn came up to enter the man hole, he took a deep breath.

" _Here we go again_ ," he thought as he climbed down the ladder. " _Once more into the dark_."

Sans somehow felt slightly more confident about this adventure. He was not sure why exactly. Perhaps it was just the enthusiasm of the men as they took to the tunnels that brought his confidence up, or it was because of how well armed the massive invading force was.

Sans did find some relief in that all of the men who took to the darkness below the ground knew what they were going to face in the tunnels, at least that is to say they had all seen the carcass, and they knew the animals could be killed.

Perhaps that was the thing that built his confidence the most. When he saw the creature in front of him in Virginia, he watched men empty their rounds on it and the thing never stopped. He thought that the animal's impossibly hard black hide was actually bulletproof.

Seeing the thing dead in the street above helped confirm to him that it just took more bullets than he thought to kill one.

The massive group of men that proceeded quietly deeper into the old train tunnels were armed with plenty of ammunition, flamethrowers and grenades. Each and every one of them felt that they had what it would take to destroy the nasty _bugs_.

Sans hoped they could find survivors and that the doctor he had met could actually help them, though it was hard to imagine. He briefly wondered if, perhaps, if Murray did find a way to save the victims, he could go back to the Virginia woods and find Melinda and help her, too.

He shrugged those foolish thoughts out his head. Sans had already seen how quickly people die from the parasites. It had been nearly a full week since Coolbaugh had disappeared into the woods that night. He knew she was dead. He focused instead on making sure that he remained alive.

The men scoured the tunnels, slowly. Minutes ticked to an hour, then two. Every so often the leader would call in a whisper to the men behind him requesting directions, and sometimes asking for the amount of time they had spent in the cavelike tunnels. The men slowed their already slow pace to a dead stop.

"Are you sure this right?" Lewis could hear someone in the lead say.

A whispering voice responded. Lewis could see a pair of shaky hands holding a GPS unit while another person eyed a map. "Yea, there's no other tunnel."

"This sure as hell doesn't look right." Someone said.

"Who did this?" Another whispering voice spoke out.

"You mean _what."_ Another person called out.

"Quiet!" voices continued to echoed.

Lewis barely noticed until someone else pointed it out, then his eyes scanned the walls. The concrete was gone. It was replaced, or covered, with a hardened shell with a pattern that resembled some kind of ribbing. Sans sighed deeply as the men slowly crept through the tunnels. Eerie repeats of the events from earlier this morning played through his mind.

Suddenly the group came to a halt again.

"Do you hear that?" The commander in the front of the group asked quietly.

Sans strained his ears to hear anything at all. He thought he could hear water dripping to his right. Many of the men seemed to hear it and flashlights started to turn in the direction. The group crept forward slightly and slowly a hole, big enough for a crouched man to easily slip through could be seen in the wall.

Water run off from the dampness of the slimy ceiling was dripping down the sides of the tunnel, trickling slowly on the ground below the break in the wall.

A sea of flashlights now focused on it as the leader of the pack crouched down, blocking the remaining group from viewing through the hole until he crept through. One by one the men quietly started to file through the hole behind him. Sans was the twelfth person through the gap. He stopped amongst the others and stared in quiet silence and fearful awe of the chamber around him.

The space beyond the hole was wide and long. The tall curved ceiling gave the place a cathedral look to it, but the dark room was more appropriately a tomb. It looked like a sadistic shrine to the dead. The floor was covered with rows of perfectly lined up egg cases, all long hatched.

Sans stepped forward, following after several officers who spread out and investigated. He moved carefully through the hatched eggshells and stepped over a slimy set of old train tracks that was exposed through the lines of eggs. He frowned and looked side to side.

Glancing down again, he reassured himself that he was indeed inside a train tunnel, but the place had no entrance or exit, no way for any old train to pass through the chamber. They were surrounded by walls all around. The only way in or out was through the hole in the wall.

Sans pulled himself together and stared at the walls, if one could call them that. The walls of the chamber were covered in a thick hard white substance, sporadically strewn over the shell-like ribbing. The whole room almost looked it was covered in massive, man-sized spider webs.

As he walked forward and shined his light ahead, his eyes grew wide with horror. Bodies were, strung up on the wall, buried behind the thick white resin secretions. The faces were contorted with pain and fear, old dried blood stained the walls and the floor, the chests of each one burst clean open from the inside.

From behind him he could hear horrified gasps of men entering the room, and he was sure he heard more than one person vomit. The smell of decay and sulfur that permeated every pore on each man's body was awful and nauseating.

Sans could not pull his eyes away from the ghastly sight no matter how much he tried. He wiped sweat from his brow and it burned his eyes. He squeezed his eyes shut, rubbed them hard, and hoped maybe when he opened them again, he would find it was all just one big nightmare that he had woken up from, safe in his barracks.

 _No such luck_ he thought as he scanned side to side, looking at the walls all around. He turned around watched the men that continued to crawl through the hole.

He felt his hand start to shake he realized that each and every man that was entering the tunnel had crawled underneath the feet of a strung up corpses. He noticed that the dripping sounds the group had heard was most definitely not caused by water. His flashlight panned down a running stream of blood, and he only then became aware of the scent of urine filling the chamber as well.

Everywhere the men looked, there were bodies. The tunnel was filled with decaying, rotting, tortured corpses. Hundreds upon hundreds of bodies were strung up to the walls, many piled on top of the corpse underneath it. Men, women, children, even a few paws stuck out of the webbing on the walls. The animals were indiscriminate killers.

Sans panned the walls, too horrified to even turn away as he took in the details of what he could see. His eyes registered shiny shoes and business suits, bare feet and torn pantyhose, ripped jeans, gold watches. He saw uniformed men, doctors, nurses, no doubt Murray's missing staff from the hospital so far above their heads.

Each and every one of the tortured souls strung to the walls lifeless and silent was grotesque, mutilated, a final look of sheer agony and fear etched forever into their faces. It was unlike anything Sans had ever imagined. Even the hardest of soldiers in the room began to turn sickly white and shake with fear.

The floor of the massive cavern was littered along the walls with the dead corpses of the face hugger hatchlings from the eggs. Sans scanned across the eggs again just to be sure that they were all indeed hatched.

"Jesus Christ, what is this?" One of the horrified men whispered.

"It's their hive," Sans, nearby answered in a morbid whisper.

"Where's the rest of them?" Someone asked quietly.

"What?" another responded as though mortified at the thought that there could possibly be more people adhered to the walls.

"He's right," Sans whispered out as loudly as he could. "These are all dead, every one of them. But there were so many more taken this morning, they can't all be dead yet." He turned to face the leader of the group. "They would still have these things on their faces."

"How do you know that?" The commander questioned with great authority, as if offended that a simple private could know more than he did.

"It takes them twelve … or I don't know… fifteen or something… hours…to do their…their thing. Our people disappeared at four in the morning. I don't see any fatigues here."

The commander checked his watch. "Well, it's nearly nineteen hundred hours."

"That means we're almost out of time to find any survivors." Sans said with urgency.

"If they're not all dead already," another officer piped in, with a definite 'there's no way we are really going to look for them' tone.

"We should get out of here, or we'll end up strung up on the walls, too." Someone, clearly breaking down, shouted.

"No," the group's leader barked. "We can do this."

"No way," a frightened officer with a squeaky voice cracked. "Not gonna happen. We can't get out of here carrying bodies with us!"

"No," Sans said, "Then they wake up."

"What?" The squeaky man said.

Sans glanced around miserably to the corpses along the walls. "They're awake and aware when they die."

"Christ." Someone in the room whispered in shock.

"How the hell do you know all this Private?" The defensive commander asked.

Sans looked him square in the eye. "I've seen it before."

"Alright people," the commander said firmly. "Let's get out of here, there's nothing we can do here. We need to find the others, if we can. Maybe there's another chamber like this."

"Just what I want to see, another room like this." One officer muttered as he headed out with the rest.

"Hey, Marcus, how many people do you think are in here?" someone asked.

Sans watched as a thin, beady nosed barely out of his teens officer glanced around the room. His flashlight and head nodded together in perfect harmony over the rows and rows of eggs in the deep chamber, then he quickly turned and started walking away.

"Well," he said as he walked, carefully stepping through the columns of hatched eggs. "Assuming it is one egg per person and this room was filled to the max with both, there's about four hundred eggs here by quick count."

"Which means that there's four hundred of those big things running around?" A terrified officer deduced.

"Yeah," Marcus responded calmly, "Guess so."

"Oh shit, we are so outnumbered." Another shaky voice echoed up.

"So where are they all?"

"There must be more chambers." Sans responded.

"We have to get out of here, we're all gonna die!"

"Quiet!" Someone from the front snapped before disappeared through the hole. "That's enough! Keep it together, people!"

With no more words each of the men filed back out into the adjacent vacant train tunnel and the large group of infantry started on their quest deeper into the tunnels to find anyone or anything alive. They walked quietly, each man running with their adrenaline and nerves on high, scanning the walls around them. Sans watched the flashlights around him flicker through the walls and bounce off the ceiling.

"Look at the ceiling," he said very quietly to the officer next to him.

Both men glanced up; as did several more who overheard Sans speak. The ceiling looked almost wet. It was blacker than anything else in the dark pit so far below the ground. Bits of thick secretions dangled like saliva from the jaws of a rabid dog, and glistened in the bobbing flashlights.

"It's so slimy," one of the men whispered.

The group halted again without warning and every fear that each man had within their hearts emerged as they stared ahead a Y junction in the train tunnel in front of them. The walls of the tunnel were lined with parasitized victims, mostly all wearing military fatigues. The floor in front of the massive search party was carefully lined with eggs casings for as far as the men could see in their flashlight beams.

Horrified into nothing more than a dead silence with a few panic-suppressing gasps, the men strode slightly forward. Sans could not stop the sound of his own heart beating loudly. It pounded so hard in his chest it was making his ears ring. Many soldiers, frightened beyond imagination by the sight in front of them refused to move. Sans put together what effort he could muster to walk forward. He stared, gaping, at the walls that lined the train tunnel.

"Oh God, we need to get out of here," Someone from the ranks said.

"Are any of them alive?" Another asked.

"They're all alive, all of them." Sans responded clearly, his voice echoing through the chamber.

One of the men behind him screamed and fell backward, hitting Sans.

"Jesus! He moved!"

The group faced one of the men on the wall. His hands and feet and face were the only thing exposed under the thick resiny bindings that held him to the wall. His fingers and head were moving and a slight gurgling noise was filing through the air.

While some officers scanned further down the endless tunnel, several people, including Sans attempted to break the moving man loose from his bindings. The thick white cocoon took all the force a team could muster, but it did snap off. The material was almost like plastic with a slimy covering, but with enough muscle and force it broke like peanut brittle and in a few seconds, the group pulled the parasitized young officer off the wall.

Together, the men tried to pull the spidery animal from the officer's face. They tried first the tail, which only tightened down harder, choking the man below it. They tried to pry the creature's long spidery legs loose form the man's skull, which only prompted the animal to dig deeper into the man's head until blood was drawn from his scalp.

Together, a team effort was enforced with every portion of the creature's body and tail being pulled on at the same time, but the thing would not budge.

"Something's moving down there!" A voice from several dozen meters along the egg field called out.

Everyone stopped moving, breathing, and all eyes and lights shined down the corridor. While the one light of the caller was not enough to light so far back into the long tunnel, the brightness of the whole team's lights lit the chamber like night had become day.

Sans suddenly lost his confidence, he wondered in fact, if what he felt really was any confidence at all. His eyes followed a sickly trail of parasitized people all along the walls, eggs on the ground below them, and a slimy black ceiling covering their heads.

The tunnel curved to the right far ahead of them, and just beyond that turn, in the form of shadows on the bodies cocooned to the walls, something very large was indeed moving. A hiss arose from the tomb, filling the air with a cold shrill that turned every last man into pale, shaking reflections of terror.

After a moment, several officers in the front of the group started to carefully walk forward through the forest of eggs. They glanced at each other and readied their weapons and they pressed forth. Others from behind Sans started forward.

"No!" Sans called out to stop the advancing men in the tunnel ahead. "Wait!" He whispered to those next to him.

The men ahead turned and glanced back at Sans, who without thinking, was striding towards them.

"Those eggs there...ahead... they're still closed. They haven't hatched. They'll hatch if you get too close. You'll end up with one of your face, and we can't get them off!"

"Something's moving up there, it could be a person." One of the men said softly.

Sans eyes drifted to shadow bouncing off the wall. He truly felt that whatever the thing was that was moving, it was certainly no person.

"I don't thi..." he started.

A wild ear piercing shriek filled the cavern. Many men dropped their guns to cover their ears and they groaned in pain from hearing the sound like metal fingernails dragging harshly across a metal chalkboard.

The eggs in front of the group began to hatch, simultaneously. Dozens of eggs opened up like horrible slimy tulips; the horrible creatures within began to raise their legs out of their infantile nesting chamber.

"We need to get the hell out of here," an officer in the group called out loudly.

Sans couldn't agree more, but he wanted so much to convince the men that were striding boldly through the field of hatching eggs.

He started to shout out again, but fell silent as he watched with horror as one of the hatchlings simply leapt from its leathery encasing and in one quick move attached its thin legs to the head of the nearest officer, wrapped its long tail around his throat and sent the man flying backwards, slamming into the wall. Four men darted through the egg field, away from the rest of the group and further into the tunnel, blinded by terror and panic as they tried to outrun the crablike hatchlings.

Sans watched as they all stopped in their tracks around the turn, screamed wildly as the fierce shriek echoed again and each man began to fire their rifles without a moment's break.

Suddenly the tunnel filled with flames as another officer began to burn the whole egg field, the living parasitized men and women strung up in the corridor, and block off the only exit of the small group around the turn by filling it with fire. Shots rang out, people panicked, and suddenly chaos erupted.

"OH GOD!" Someone howled with spine tingling panic.

Sans spun around to see a pale white, shaking soldier staring straight upwards. The men all darted their eyes and lights upward. The black ceiling was moving.

Sans suddenly realized it was not a ceiling at all that they had been looking at. What they saw was the old train tunnel ceiling covered with the sleeping bodies of the horrible black serpents, full grown, ferocious, and merely waiting for the attack to begin.

Their horrific, twisted black bodies blended into their own hellishly spun hive walls creating the most perfect of camouflage. Like bats in a great swarm, the gigantic monsters released themselves from the tunnel ceilings and dove for the officers with tremendous ferocity and no hesitation. The creatures attacked with more precision than a machine programmed for perfect killing.

Panic broke loose as many men darted back down the tunnel while more opened fire, hitting their own teammates in the panic. The weapon fire was deafening, but not quite loud enough to drown out the shrieking hisses of the horde of dragons that attacked the men. Sans shouted for everyone to leave, but as he pulled back with a small group, he doubted anyone else could hear him over the gunfire.

He soon realized they were all surrounded. Sans darted back the way they had come, but the ceiling back towards the exit had sprung to life and another massive attack wing of the monstrous creatures piled through the tunnels, clamoring over one another to be the first to get the men that were firing upon them.

Sulfur smells and sizzling sounds soon filled the tunnels as the injured beasts bled their acid blood into the chamber. Smoke began to burn any living man's eyes red with the sting of acid and death. Lewis barely registered panicked, screaming, crying men dropped to their knees howling in unimaginable pain as the acidic blood seared into their chests, skulls and appendages.

A small group had managed to slip through a thin spot in the attacking horde, only barely avoiding acid burns, impalement by a spiny tail or terrible talon, and friendly fire.

Sans saw his opening and dodged through it, nearly coming face first into a burning carcass of a dead bug. He pulled himself to his feet and ran with the group.

"Throw a grenade! Bring the tunnel down on them!" Sans shouted.

One officer, abiding without question grabbed a grenade from his belt, pulled the pin and heaved the thing as far as he possibly could. Immediately, two more did the same, and the men turned to try to escape only to find a massive horde approaching. The men fired wildly into the black horde, sending burning acid splattering in all directions.

"NO!" Sans shouted loudly. "Control your fire! CONTROL YOUR FIRE!"

He barely spoke the words when the explosion from the three grenades rocked the tunnel and sent most of the men flying. The ceiling above them crumbled and the walls gave in. Officers, parasitized hosts strapped to the wall, and the bugs, were crushed under the concrete slabs.

Obeying Sans, the ever dwindling group of escaping officers kept their guns under control and fired shorter bursts at the swarm of black monsters.

The men shouted to each other and tried their best to help one another escape if one fell back, but if any were to survive, there was no time to play hero. Sans shouted to the men to run each time another officer fell back.

It may not have been a tactic he was proud of, but he no intentions of dying in the darkness below the city of Philadelphia. Running had worked for him in the past, and he was desperate to make it work for them again.

As the group of officers ran frantically back through the cold tunnels, the pursuing swarm of demons had not trouble keeping up. The tunnel was still collapsing in around them, and Sans shouted out for someone to lob another grenade.

Someone in the back of the small group grabbed a grenade and pulled the pin. Sans heard shouting and spun around, weapon at the ready. As if it happened in slow motion, Lewis registered the pin flying out of the grenade, glistening in his flashlight as he turned around. He saw the spiny tail of the alien animal pierce straight through the chest of the man holding the now live grenade, and in the flicker of a second, Sans noticed three more grenades strapped to the man's utility belt.

"RUN! RUN!" Sans shouted and in the fraction of a second it took for the remaining men to register what was going on, the explosion rocked the tunnels, sending bugs, concrete, shrapnel, and flames into the confined space, rocking the walls, and starting a total cave in.

Lewis coughed and gagged. He couldn't ear; his eyes registered nothing but smoke. His nose stung with the powerful scent of acid. The high pitched tone in his head ringed on long after he pulled himself to his feet.

His attention was drawn to the bouncing light of a flashlight in the dead-white palm of another man as he started towards Lewis, shaking violently, covered in dusty powder. Slowly the men lucky enough to be alive, climbed out of the rubble and made their way down the tunnel, towards the ladders up to the street.

Shaking, sick, and full of shock, the men climbed the ladder as quickly as they could while the rickety old thing threatened to pull loose from the weakened walls. Sans turned open a manhole cover and flung himself street side, coughing, gagging, and ultimately vomiting.

More men followed up behind him as he pulled himself slowly to his shaky feet. As the last man though the man hole turned back to help the officer behind him, screams and blood curdling shrieked filled the tunnel above and below.

"Oh my God," someone on the street wailed as the men heard the calls of the alien horde.

The officer at the top of the ladder had gotten one hand through and shrieked in agony as one of the black creatures gripped onto his thighs, stopping him from going forward. The thing pulled him down a few rungs and two other officers nearly leapt through the cover to try to grab him, while two more aimed their weapons to fire. Sans shouted for them to get back.

"Shut it! Shut it!"

Another of the massive creatures started climbing the ladder with incredible speed and agility and Sans slammed the manhole cover shut on the thing. He was certain the heavy steel cover had hit the animal in its long banana shaped head, but he was sure that it would not slow the creature down much.

The men bolted off down the vacant city street. As his head cleared, Sans could hear sirens blaring. As they approached their staging area, it was obvious the panic and chaos in the tunnels below had spilled over to the streets.

"What the hell is going up here?" Someone asked quickly.

They rounded a corner and saw hundreds of police officers and firemen working hard at clearing the buildings and streets through the area. The very ground below their feet seemed to shaking.

"Did you feel that?" Sans asked.

"I think we started an earthquake."

The men wasted no more time in getting back to the command base. The commander in charge did not seemed concerned about the massive loss of life they had sustained, or about the fact that there were more of those creatures below ground than the men could count.

He shouted at the troops for detonating grenades, which ignited a gas line and destroyed several city blocks, forcing further evacuation of the area.

Sans tuned most of it out. He no longer cared about the cover up crap, or the hard day the General was having with dealing with the President. It all seemed wasted to him, for he knew that when those monsters decided to come top side to hunt for more hosts, nothing would stand a chance. It seemed like no one truly understood the gravity of the situation.

Murray ran towards the injured men, but Sans, who did not notice, grabbed hold of the General's collar and screamed at him.

"Don't you realize there are hundreds… maybe thousands of those things under there! The whole team is _gone_ , sir! GONE!"

Frantically, Sans shouted for a the city to be bombed, for every last of the animals to be destroyed.

"Nothing will be safe. Nothing will survive!" He wailed.

The creatures were waiting in the darkness, taking those that they could, snatching people away to use to breed, pulling them deeper into the tunnels creating a massive hive right under the feet of the very men that tried to stop them.

They bred and built their massive army until the time was right to attack in force and over take the surface of the planet. Sans slunk down on to the bumper of a vehicle, as the General dismissed himself from his grip, his mind drifting to thoughts of the end of the world as he knew it.

"Hey?" A voice said.

Lewis looked up and saw the concerned eyes of Murray watching him. "Let me look at those wounds."

"No, I'm fine." Lewis said immediately.

He barely realized he was cut and bleeding. His injuries seemed so trivial to him after everything that had just taken place. Murray did not press the issue with him. Instead, he sat next to him and stared off down the streets.

"What did you see?"

Sans wiped some blood from his face and pressed his eyes with his fingers.

"There's so many of them. Of those things."

He could not find the words to describe the horrible sight of the hundreds of victims strung to the walls in the tunnels, he could not go into details about the attack, the swarm, the death and destruction he just witnessed. There simply were not words for it.

He hung his head low and he whispered after a long pause.

"We're not going to win this, Murray."


	11. Chapter 10

**CHAPTER TEN**

Kyle, Cassandra, and Stephanie sat in the apartment all morning, watching the television. Whatever station they turned to offered news reports covering the sketchy details from the events that had taken place all throughout the week.

Many cities all over the country were being evacuated, or large areas of those cities anyway. It seemed odd to Cassandra that suddenly the media was being informed of the massive events that had taken place all week long, and were just now informing the population at large.

Kyle suspected that the media was ordered to keep quiet about it, so as not cause a panic in the population. However, as the news reports droned on, a panic is exactly what was on hand.

Every city that had broadcasted, both local and national, reported frightened hordes of people frantically running through supermarkets, department stores, and even sporting good stores as they loaded up with food, supplies, and most of all weapons.

Reports of vandalism, fires, and mass thefts seemed to fill the airways, and New York was no longer apparently immune to the problems, either. By the midday, reports had come out of entire neighborhoods, bustling with thousands of people just a few days before, suddenly turned ghost town while churches, civic centers, schools began to overflow with frightened people looking for safety.

Police, firemen, paramedics and civilian volunteers alike all had their hands full trying to deal with the mobs. Many reports offered information about fights and killings that had broken out over simple things like bottled water or a pump at the gas station.

Many people were filling their tanks, loading their belongings and fleeing town on their own accord, not waiting for official government evacuation, or even confirmation that evacuation was necessary.

The massive amounts of traffic that hit the streets and highways continued and worsened as the hours ticked on. Frightened people rushing to leave their homes did not stop for others, and every type of collision from small fender benders to massive pile ups were being reported on many highways.

As they watched in wonder and amazement, the three friends could not help but to feel that their lives were on the verge of a massive, undefinable change. Cassandra wondered how bad it was going to get.

She idly thought that this was the calm before the storm, which only made her realize she was completely incapable of envisioning the actual storm, for the calm was bad enough. Cassandra wondered what would be left of the city that they called home? She lowered her eyes to the ground for a moment and Kyle whispered a sad but apparently all too true comment.

"Those things don't need to kill us, we're gonna do it ourselves acting like that."

Suddenly a knock on the door caught their attention. Stephanie popped up, offering a surprised glance to the other two and opened the door. David stood there and she happily threw her arms around him and they kissed quickly and lightly. The three teens standing on the stairwell behind him gave out some cat calls and laughed and joked.

He walked in and nodded to Kyle, who nodded back with a simple, "hey man."

David looked at Stephanie and then back to the TV, which he quickly strode over to and turned off.

"Hey!" Cassandra groaned and flicked it back on.

David laughed casually. "What are you all watching that crap for? Let's go get some pizza or something. I'm starving."

Stephanie glared at them. "How can you think about pizza at a time like this? Where have you been?" 

"It isn't that bad out there, this is just all blown out of proportion." David maintained.

"Not from what I saw," Cassandra muttered disapprovingly.

"Oh come on. Don't tell me you're not leaving the apartment of this?" He said with certain smugness.

"They're over exaggerating, you know that, right? This is why they're doing it, just cause they can. You haven't been outside at all since yesterday have you?"

Stephanie said dismissively, "We haven't been anywhere, not since what Cassandra saw."

David rolled his eyes. "Look, no one's out there running around in panic! It's all good. This isn't happening here."

"Yes it is! I saw it! I was there!" Cassandra said lividly, as she jumped to her feet.

"Alright, I know what you saw, but have you seen anything else?"

Cassandra shot him a sort of 'of course not' look.

David gestured to the rest of the group and smiled reassuringly and casually at Stephanie. "We've been out there. We went looking for all these "areas" that are supposedly affected around here…."

Cassandra jumped to her feet, eyeing David and the rest of the group like they were wild and dangerous animals.

"You went _looking_? Are you crazy! You guys could have been killed… or worse"

"Relax, Cassy, OK." He snapped at her and then coaxed his way over to Stephanie.

"I swear to you," he added with a sleek smile and a roll of eyes. "There is _nothing_ going on out there. Pizza place is like two blocks away. Trust me, it's all good."

Stephanie shot a glance to Cassandra; a glance that had a 'come on it'll be fine' tone to it. Cassandra slowly shook her head. Her mouth opened, but she said nothing. Kyle reached for her elbow and touched her skin softly, a little too close once again. She yanked her arm loose from him.

"Come on Cassy. It's fine. We're going out. You coming?" He said with annoyed overtones.

"Maybe he's right," Stephanie pleaded again as she sidled over towards Cassandra.

"Maybe...maybe we should go out or something and try forget about all this."

"Come on, Cassy. Let's go," Kyle urged again. She glanced to David and the rest of the guys. They all seemed content and quite sure of themselves and slowly they turned to leave.

She nodded. "Yeah, I mean...we don't have much food here anyway. Fine!"

For the first time in as long as Cassandra could even remember, she left the house in simple jeans and a tank top and no-make up. She turned to lock the apartment door as Stephani latched on to David's arm just behind her.

"Man, I'm starving," David groaned again.

"Yea, me too. Feel like I haven't eaten in days," Patrick added from the landing below.

"What did you do to your head, David?" Cassandra asked suddenly, noticing a little bit of blood in his blonde hair as she turned behind him to walk down the stairs.

"Uhh.. I tripped, it's fine."

Stephanie immediately reached for David's hair and brushed it softly. "Aw, you sure you're OK, babe?"

He pulled his head free of her caress and whisked her hand away. "Yea, I'm fine."

Cassandra walked down the stairs and out the door slowly, suddenly feeling more nervous about being outside than when she was talking about it. She felt herself unable to stop from staring up and down the street in each direction before she touched her foot down to the sidewalk below the last stair.

Cassandra pulled her foot off the last stair and stepped onto the white concrete of sidewalk with as much pause and apprehension as if she were taking the first step onto some alien planet.

She sighed in relief when the world did not collapse from under her foot and she quickly caught up to her friends, feeling her apprehension dissipate. The group walked on, slowly at first, but as Cassandra's confidence built, their pace increased slightly until they came to halt at an entrance down to the subways that ran under the city.

"Where are we going?" Cassandra asked suddenly as her friends started down the stairs without hesitation.

"Umm.. yea, it's this way..." Stephanie said once they reached the street corner, yanking David's arm the opposite direction he was turning.

"Oh come on, I know a better place." David insisted.

They walked another two blocks and descended into the black depths of the subway entrance. Suddenly, Cassandra felt uneasy again.

She nearly leapt ten feet when her phone rang suddenly. The brief conversation with her mother as she walked towards the subway was enough of a distraction to make her forget about her reluctance of following her friends.

"Mom…? You there?" She smirked and slid the phone back into her purse.

Stephanie looked at her quizzically and Cassandra shrugged. "Signal's gone."

The train ride was brief. Cassandra ascended the stairs behind her friends and left the stale darkness of the underground. A gentle warm breeze touched her face delicately and the sun was shining brightly between the tall buildings that surrounded her as she made her way topside.

New York was bustling, but as David had assured, it was no more than usual. They turned south at the next corner, chatted to one another as they made their way to their destination, and the unease slowly slipped away completely.

Cassandra's eyes would wander and she would find herself lost in what she eyed. They were subtle things, but something seemed different to her now about the city.

Perhaps it was not actually the people walking the streets, mingling in cafes, or shopping the storefronts, it could simply have been the difference from within herself that she felt staring at all the people, as flashes of the chest-bursting creature played back into her mind as the group sat down in a booth.

The look on a child's face as he tugged innocently on his mother's shorts cuff to get her attention to the wrinkled brow of an old woman that sat alone in a corner booth, to the barren look of a thin, homeless man that sat slumped against the side of a building, hat pulled down over his eyes, caught Cassandra's attention completely.

These were typical sights in Manhattan, sights that Cassandra had long since become accustomed to, but somehow it all seemed different, and suddenly she could not help but to look at them like something she might never see again.

"You alright?" Stephanie asked.

"Yea," Cassandra said, jumping back to attention.

Soon two trays of piping hot New York style were getting served up.

"Oh man, that smells so good."

Midmeal, Cassandra found her eyes wandering again. The words of her friends sounded distant and fuzzy over the echoing memories of the people screaming and the gun fire from the back of the mall, and most intensely of all, the hissing of that horrible snake monster that had erupted like a bloody volcano from the man's chest.

"So what do you think, Cassy?" Stephanie asked.

"What? What about?"

"Um...going to hang out tonight."

"Uh, oh." Cassandra fumbled with the napkin in front of her, staring intently at the tablecloth. "Wh...where at?"

"You know what, never mind." Stephanie snapped, obviously unhappy with her lack of interest.

"What? Sorry, okay," Cassandra said through wide eyes.

"It's okay Cassy, don't worry about it." Kyle said. "If you're not ready, it's fine."

Cassandra glared at Kyle, quite certain he was not talking about her readiness to hang out.

She stopped eating, suddenly losing her appetite.

"Cassandra, hey. What's up, really?" Stephanie tried again.

"I...sorry," she slid the plate away from her slightly and stared out the window onto the bustling street outside.

"You know everything is going to be ok. I know what you saw was awful and all, but it's over." David assured her.

"Really?" Cassandra snapped angrily. "I don't think it is over. I think it's going to get worse."

"Why?" Kyle interjected.

Cassandra glanced at him wide eyed as if surprised that he could not see it. How is it possible that he saw the very same news reports while huddled in the apartment and now it was all so clear to her, but he dared to ask "why"?

"I think the news stories are wrong - or they're keeping something from us that they know."

"Well," Kyle said with a deep sigh, "I don't think so. It's getting under control. Dave said so. You know people just panic. Look at how they act where there's a call for a couple of inches of snow, they all run to the stores, old ladies stockin' up on milk and eggs or whatever like they're gonna be trapped in their houses for days and days. It'll be alright, Cassy, seriously."

Cassandra dropped her eyes and turned her head back to the window. Cassandra watched Stephanie walk away with David. She shook her head.

Just a few hours before, she was almost too scared to leave the apartment as well, but now she rolled her eyes and flashed her palm to Cassandra before strutting away and disappearing down a subway entrance.

As she watched her friend's back disappear below ground, Cassandra could not help to feel that this was the start of a downhill slide. She looked warily at Kyle who sighed and slapped his thighs with his hands.

"Well, you coming?" He asked. "Want to go back to my place, or your place, or something?"

Cassandra rolled her eyes and turned to head.

"I don't know Kyle. You know, I think I just want to go home for now."

"Okay, well, I walk with you." He smoothly tried to grope her shoulders again.

"God this is all just so crazy, you know." She finally started after a few blocks.

She wanted to believe that it was all going to go away, but as her thoughts rattled through her mind and her mouth vocalized them, she saw the bitter end of it all.

"I mean, these things... you know... they just show up one night like, poof! Here we are. And all these people start dying so quickly afterward, and all these other people have gone missing too, they're dead, I just know it. And that...that horrible video from last week that got out. You know everybody started to swear it was fake, but I don't think it was, it was just a cover, you know. There's ..there's something more to it."

She rattled on so quickly, rationalizing the myriad of thoughts in her head.

"These animals, they're not like anything we've ever seen before, you know... I mean where did they really come from do you think?"

"I have no idea," Kyle answered slowly.

"Well, I just think they were put here for a reason. I don't know who put them here, maybe they are terrorists or something, but someone put those things all over the place for a reason. And they're going to kill us all."

"Cassy," Kyle said in a pleading tone. "Just chill, OK."

"No, I saw a man die the most unimaginable death you ever saw. The thing just...it...came out of his chest like...it was horrible...he was in so much pain...and he died, but the thing popped out of him, I _heard_ his...ribs crunch... I got his blood all over me."

Her hands started to shake as she lifted them to her face and chest. Her reddening eyes welled up as the images she could not control continued to flash before her eyes. Kyle wrapped his arms around her and she cried softly into his shoulder. After a long while she pulled herself together, wiped the tears from her eyes and looked at Kyle.

"Look, it's gonna be OK. I'll protect you." Kyle assured her.

She smiled. She had let what happened at the party slip out of mind. He was there for her and it felt good. They stood to walk home and Kyle did not hesitate to take hold of her hand and they walked together another block. Kyle guided her around a corner and, whether he had just forgotten her new found fear, or deliberately planned the attack, he led her directly to the stairs leading to a subway entrance. She slammed on the brakes.

"Kyle..." she started warily.

"Come on Cassy, it's OK. You always take the train everywhere. If you want to walk that's fine, but there's nothing down here 'except people and trains."

She gripped his hand tightly and descended the stairs the underground lobby. Her heart began to beat faster and harder with every slow step. She sighed deeply when she reached the bottom of the stairwell, as though a major hurdle had just been overcome.

Looking around, she decided that the evening train station was normal enough for a Sunday afternoon and not filled with frantic people. While most people waiting did seem to be reading a newspaper, they seemed unconcerned about any immediate danger.

Several people chatted calmly on their phones and Cassandra walked with Kyle through the token lane and out onto the train platform.

A train came to a squealing halt on the opposite track. The high pitched whine of the brakes drilled into Cassandra's head like nails on a chalkboard. It reminded of her of the baby monster's shriek before it leapt from the dead man's chest and bolted off, leaving a trail of blood for others to follow down a corridor. Cassandra gritted her teeth and shook her head at herself.

" _Why are you being so stupid_?" She thought to herself. " _Its fine, it's fine_."

She breathed deeply trying to convince herself of that fact. She released herself from Kyle's hand and paced the subway platform trying to control her heartbeat and the growing fear in her mind. She just wanted the subway train to arrive. She checked the schedule map and glanced at the time display on her cell phone.

" _Five more minutes. Fine, alright Cassandra, now stop it."_ She argued with her own mind while she contemplated going back to the apartment with Kyle alone.

She paced back to Kyle, who watched her quizzically.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, yeah I am... just waiting for the train," she said, forcing a smile and trying to act casual.

The other train had deposited its passengers, filled with a new load and zoomed off, leaving only Cassandra's side of the terminal waiting for their ride. Another shrieking squeal from a braking train filled the dead air in the tunnel.

The people on the terminal platform did not look interested or concerned, they merely waited for the train to pull up. Cassandra glanced at her phone again, noting that the train was arriving early.

The terrible shrill sound grew louder and closer, and seemed to ring out with more enthusiasm from within the dark tunnels off the platform. Cassandra felt her nerves hit high level and she grabbed Kyle's hand, squeezing it so hard he flinched.

"I don't want to be here," she said suddenly, breathing deeply, eyes locked on the tunnel to the left, towards the approaching shrieking noise that was constantly growing in intensity inside Cassandra's head.

Kyle smiled and smirked, "God, Cassy relax it's just the tr..."

Panicked screams rang out from the people in the platform as the waiting passengers bolted chaotically backwards. Cassandra and Kyle whipped around and barely had time to perceive what they were seeing before Cassandra screamed at the top of her lungs and the pair jumped back, spun on their heels and bolted for the token gate.

Three startled police officers on patrol in the large platform jumped into action, diving forward through the rotating bars, their guns ready as screaming people cleared the area. Shots rang out from shouting men before Cassandra and Kyle had even jumped the ticket gate.

The monstrous black things just poured out of the tunnels, shrieking and hissing, lunging at the people in their path.

A countless number of gigantic black creatures; a sea of talons and teeth and deadly tails; sailed from the tunnel, some running upside down on the ceiling, all moving on four legs with more speed than any animal ever recorded. They poured from the tunnel like agitated cockroaches from an infested garbage dumpster.

Cassandra caught a quick glimpse of one as she launched herself over the ticket gate with Kyle's help. The monstrous thing was no animal as had been described on the television. The living nightmare was far more intense than the twisted, bullet riddled black corpse that had been displayed on television.

She only saw it for a second, but it was far more than enough. The horrible black demon, one of hundreds that poured out of the darkness, leapt up onto the subway platform and sunk its jaw into a police officer desperately shooting at the thing as it approached. The man dropped to the group and the long head of the monstrosity pulled back and hissed a satanic call into the air.

"Come on!" Kyle screamed at the top of his lungs.

The two darted up the stairs as quickly as they could. Neither realized they were being pursued by no less than a hundred of the giant monsters. They reached the top of the stairs and ran away from the entrance with dozens of other panicked people, nearly getting hit by a car as they tore across the street.

"RUN!" Kyle screamed. Cassandra just concentrated on keeping her shaking body as close to Kyle as she could.

They never looked back, but both could hear the sounds of cars slamming into each other, panicked pedestrians screaming for their lives, and in the distance, sirens of oncoming emergency response teams. The blocks seemed to grow very long as the two bolted through the panicked crowds that were running frantically from the direction of the attacking swarm.

Some of the people ran from the buildings they were in, seeing the crowds on the street running forth, and joined them, unsure themselves of exactly what was going on, but joining the masses just the same. Others from the massive crowd ran into the very same buildings that people were abandoning, seeking shelter from the black storm of death that pursed them.

The sea of monsters flowed over the streets in all directions from the entrance of the subway, subduing or killing all that cross their paths. They leapt over cars, clung to buildings, jumped from one person to another, striking them down.

Hundreds and hundreds of glossy black bodies flowed from the terminal like locusts and covered the streets, shattered glass display windows and ran into buildings, scaled the buildings themselves, and ran across the scaffolding that lined every building.

The horde of alien monsters never stopped, and Cassandra ran with Kyle without looking back.

Frightened people ran for their lives, but their attempt to flee was comparable to a herd of aroused horses. The stampede that ensued assured the only the strongest and fastest would survive the quest for freedom. Someone slammed into Cassandra from behind, knocking her to the ground. She fell so hard she yanked Kyle backwards before her hand slipped free from his grasp.

As he pulled her up and howled at her to run, Cassandra glanced back. Frantic people ran up the sidewalks, through the streets, abandoning cars and knocking over anyone and anything in their path as the black monsters of death leapt into the crowd, shattering skulls and ripping flesh with their dual jaws.

"RUN!" Kyle screamed again even louder.

Cassandra pulled her eyes away from the large attacking swarm of monsters. She pulled herself to her feet and took off once again with Kyle. They ran past three police vehicles in the street, and several officers trying hard to fight against the crowd.

The officers in the street leapt from their vehicles and immediately began to fire at the onslaught. As the shots rang out, already frightened people screamed even more loudly and the stampede seemed to intensify.

Cassandra and Kyle bolted another three blocks. Though their hearts were beating loudly and their breath was ragged and heavy, they could still hear the echoes of the gunfire and the terrible shrieks of dying people over the wild hisses of the brutal monsters.

They continued to run as fast as they could, ignoring their own exhaustion. Cassandra took a deep breath and pulled out another burst of speed at Kyle prompting.

As she darted across another intersection, she glanced up and noted the street sign above her head. They were at Forty-Second and Ninth, just near times square. They still had another ten blocks to go.

"Oh God, I'm out of breath," Cassandra finally said after two more blocks and dropped to the ground in the middle of the Heart of Manhattan, just near the Army recruitment station.

Panting, Kyle stopped with her. He grabbed her and pulled her off to the side, allowing the still running crowds of people to stampede down the sidewalk without trampling either of them. They leaned against a wall and breathed hard as they stared down the street.

The massive black animals could still be clearly seen in the dimming light of the early evening, leaping from car top to building side, person to person. More police frantically filed in through the crowds of frightened people, firing wildly at the swarm of monsters.

Sirens blared and between the screams of the people, the honking of car horns blaring, and wild gun fire that rang out, the hisses of the alien animals could still be heard.

Cassandra and Kyle watched for a moment as a war developed right before their eyes. Dozens of police vehicles, and dozen more foot, bike, and horseback units arrived from fighting through the crowds.

The screaming people ran through the streets with no control or consideration for who or what they ran into or pushed out of the way.

Frightened horses reared up in defense, dumping their uniformed riders to the ground and the endless sea of panicked people stomped right over a fallen officer not far from where Cassandra and Kyle watched. The horses bolted through the streets, out running the people.

"Oh God, they stepped right on him!" Cassandra howled, horrified.

As gunfire continued to ring out and the hiss of the monstrous creatures filled the falling night air, Kyle, who had caught his breath grabbed her arm and tugged.

"Come on, we have to keep moving."

They took off down the street and turned with the crowd at breakneck speeds to keep pace with them and avoid being trampled or shot. With eight blocks to go, Cassandra pulled herself together and focused entirely on reaching the sanctity of her new home.

She bolted forth, dragging on Kyle's arm for a moment before he was able to push harder off his feet and make pace.

"Seven," she said.

"Six," Cassandra shouted as they bolted across the next intersection.

"Five," Kyle yelled at the next intersection.

"Four"

"Three"

"Two"

They turned around the corner onto their home stretch and leapt up the front stairs two and three at a time. Cassandra had pulled her front door key out at 'two' and wasted no time shoving it into the lock.

"HEY!" Someone shouted from the street.

Kyle turned as Cassandra pushed the front entrance door open and glared down at the man that had run up to Kyle and grabbed his arm.

"Let us in, man!" he howled, pushing Kyle aside and trying to get past him.

Kyle fought with him, grabbing his shoulder and spinning the man back around. As Cassandra screamed frantically for Kyle to get in so she could shut and lock the door, the sounds of screaming people and shrieking animals filled the streets all around them.

Shaking, terrified and filled with adrenaline, Kyle slammed his fist into the face of the man and took off over the top of him as he dropped to the ground. Cassandra forced the door shut and turned the latch quickly and they bolted up to the fifth floor of the building.

"Hurry!" Kyle prompted as Cassandra pushed the key into the lock and opened the door to the apartment.

They slammed the door shut and pulled back, desperately trying to catch their breath. Cassandra propped against the door and shut her eyes for a moment.

She opened them a few shaky seconds later and her focus fell onto the windows across the room. Kyle slid down the wall, thumping to the ground, chest rising and falling hard as he fought to catch his breath.

In the flickering of the street lights outside, Cassandra could see the bouncing shadows on the buildings down the street of hundreds, thousands, of people that fled for their lives. Cassandra crept slowly to the window, but as the sound of the animals that pursued the people in the streets below rang up through the air, Kyle called to her.

"No! Get down! Get away from the windows."

Cassandra immediately dropped to the ground and crawled over to Kyle. She tucked herself into his side and sobbed hysterically as she, too, tried to catch her breath.

She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to block out the terrible sounds that continued to ring out from the streets below.

As the storm began to pass, as the fleeing pedestrians that were able enough to continue to run fled by, as the wicked black animals continued to pursue those that ran, the sounds began to fade from her ears. Cassandra kept her eyes shut tight.

She sobbed softly for several long hours, only occasionally opening her eyes throughout the restless night, to see if anything was moving outside her window. Sometime around midnight, she glanced towards the blinds and halfway wondered if the things could fly or see through walls.

She glanced at Kyle who was sleeping softly and she tried to block away the horrible thoughts that were filling her mind. She shut her eyes again, hoping this was one enormous nightmare and it would all go away come the morning light.

When she opened them again, the streets were silent and daylight was shining happily through the blinds and curtains that covered the only windows in the apartment.

Cassandra took a deep breath as she pulled herself upright. She glanced at the wall that she and Kyle were propped up against, as if trying to verify that the wall was really real and so were the events her mind recalled as it woke in the morning light.

Kyle shifted and opened his eyes. He sat up and stared wide eyed at Cassandra who glanced back at him with the same shaken look. The two looked simultaneously in the direction of the windows, then glanced back at one another.

They listened for a moment but there was nothing to hear. Neither the sounds of morning traffic, nor engines rumbling, nor horns honking, nor any other noise created by bustling people heading to their work places on a Monday morning filled the air.

There was a certain dead silence. Cassandra glanced at the clock on the wall near the little kitchen.

"It's eight a.m.," she whispered.

Without a word, they both crept up, standing halfway erect, and slowly tracked across the apartment floor. They both hesitated at the window, neither wanting to be the first to have a peek at the world outside, both fearing something awful might leap through the window at them if they revealed themselves to the day light.

Kyle swallowed, reached his hand out, pulled it back slightly, then reached forward again. He kept his head low, deep to his shoulders and slowly and cautiously pulled the curtain aside and split the blinds to have a peek outside.

"Oh God," Kyle whispered.

Cassandra could feel herself shaking at those words, but she was compelled to see outside as well. She pulled the other curtain back and peered through the blinds, her eyes dropping down to the street below.

Empty cars littered the street, some slammed into each other, others stopped right up on the sidewalks. Cassandra could not see a living soul on the street.

The cars and sidewalks were stained red with blood, but there were no bodies that she could see. It looked like a ghost town outside, nothing stirred as far as she could strain her eyes to see.

Kyle pulled away from the window and flicked the television on. The screen was fuzzy for a moment, then a morbid image filled the air, a solemn reporter stood there, face pale and sickly as she turned to the camera.

Behind her, a scene similar to the one outside their window. Abandoned vehicles, many imbedded into the one in front and behind it, filled the street, but no people were out. T

he reporter stood directly next to two cars. One, a white and blue patrol car, was so red with blood the large NYPD lettering on the side was nearly completely splotched out.

"I'm..." the reporter started to say, but paused as she pressed her earpiece further into her eardrum.

"My apologies," she started again. Her voice was shaken, her words were slow and filled with shock, and the microphone she clung to crackled and fizzed as it trembled in her hands.

"I am reporting live from... Three blocks behind me you may be able to see Times Square here in what's...left... of midtown Manhattan. The same scenario has taken place in too many cities to list, all over the country. All over the world. These... these animals... as many of you watching this report well know already, took this and many other cities, both large and small, by surprise. No one could have possibly anticipated or expected the sheer numbers of these creatures that came up from somewhere below ground."

The reporter stopped and gathered her thoughts as a tear dripped down her pale face, which she whisked away with a shaking hand. "There's uh... a...countless number of...fatalities. In fact, the streets here are rather vacant of human life... From the events I witnessed in the early hours, which I will replay here for you now, the animals took the bodies of anyone still alive… they just…. dragged them off..."

A clip came on from a very bouncy camera. It was obvious that the camera was high up in a building, the reporter off screen was commenting.

"They're taking the people. My God, that one there," the camera zoomed down and to the left, the reporter's pointing finger just to the side. "Is that man still alive?"

It certainly appeared so, to Cassandra as she watched in mortified wonder of the early morning sight.

"They need you alive to breed," Cassandra whispered. "The man that I saw die, he was alive, carrying that thing inside him...like a baby." She turned to Kyle. "If you're dead you're no good to them."

Kyle felt his heart skip several beats and sink low into his chest.

"Oh, shit, this is unreal. I... I've gotta call my folks."

"Me too," Cassandra said and both teens pulled out their cell phones.

They glanced to each other as they looked at their phone displays.

"Signal still works," Kyle said with raised eyebrows.

Somehow, Cassandra had half expected the phones not to work. She dialed her aunt and uncle first. There was no answer. She next tried her parents'.

"Hello?!" A frantic voice answered the phone there.

"Mom!"

"Oh GOD CASSY! THANK GOD! OH GOD!" She screamed hysterically with relief.

After a long conversation convincing her parents that she was alright for now, they all agreed it was safer for her to stay where she was.

They figured that Michele and Jeremy were not answering the phone because many people, per the news which Cassandra was now ignoring, were being evacuated from their homes into one or two areas where the overwhelmed military support that were being deployed could attempt to defend the human race.

Once Cassandra finally clicked the phone off, she glanced to Kyle, whose long face was filled with fear and concern.

"They didn't answer."

"Oh God. Where do you think they could be?"

"I don't know," Kyle said, running his hands through his hair. "I tried their cells too. I don't know. Oh shit, oh shit," he started pacing back and forth.

Cassandra wanted to help him but she did not know what to say. Perhaps they had gotten out, perhaps they had just lost their phones, there was no telling.

She, too, wondered where her local family was, for they did not answer at home or on their cell phones either. But in all the chaos, a myriad of answers were possible.

"You know, maybe...maybe everybody's trying to call everyone and the phones are bogged down. We need to give it some time, maybe," was all she could come up with to say.

So wait they did. The two sat in near silence for over two hours. They flicked from channel to channel watching news reports, interviews with the military personnel charged with defending the jam packed people that had been torn from their homes in the middle of the night and hustled off to any buildings large enough to house mass populations.

The President came back on, looking as terrified and morbid as any of the dozen reporters Cassandra had watched on the news for the last several hours.

He took a deep, long sigh and announced his thoughts to an empty room. There was no press in the small room this time. The President's regretful eyes stared deeply into the camera and he started to address those that were still able to watch.

"American citizens, in light of recent events, military personnel, well-armed, and highly trained are personally escorting everyone within a fifty mile radius of any affected area to secure locations. All modalities of transportation other than military transport has been cancelled. Trains and subways will not run, and all air traffic has been closed. I have been advised by foreign ministers that several countries have initiated quarantine – no one in or out, and for the time being…." He paused.

"We are facing the beginning of a new world war. This is not a war from country to country, but a war of all human kind against the things that now threaten our very existence." He cleared his throat. "For those of you wishing to vacate your homes and head to less affected areas, I beg you to please do so calmly and as quickly as you can by way of military troop transport only. Do not panic!

To those of you in affected areas of our great nation that can see or hear this report, please hear me now. Military troops have been deployed to your area, they are going to secure the affected cities, but will need time. It is best to remain indoors, stay away from windows and most importantly, stay calm. There will be updates as frequently as possible using the emergency broadcast system, and those of you in affected areas will be able to stay apprised of the most current situations in that manner.

Once again, please remain indoors, stay where you are, out military is handling the situation, and we hope to have you all back in your homes very soon."

"Oh my God," Cassandra whispered quietly.

"Wow, did we just go on shutdown or something?" Kyle said quietly. "What the hell is the military going to be able to do unless they start bombing us?

Cassandra sobbed softly. "There's so many of those things."

"They'll have to bomb the cities," Kyle repeated, more sure. "There's no choice."

"Well, if they do that with people still here..." Cassandra whispered with wide eyes.

Kyle looked at her, but stayed silent.

Suddenly, a terrible, slow thumping sound echoed outside the door. Both heads turned to face the door. Cassandra gasped and held her breath. The dull thudding grew louder, closer. Cassandra could feel her body shaking, Kyle stayed motionless.

The noise seemed to stop right outside the door. They strained to listen for any more sounds. A scratching filled the room, and then a soft clicking noise. Cassandra realized that someone had a key and was opening the door. She leapt forward.

"Stephanie!" She whispered as her hand reached for the door to help it open. "Oh, God."

David stood in the doorway, covered head to toe in blood, Stephanie was propped up on the door and fell backward into the apartment when the door was pulled open.

Cassandra could not control her urge to scream when she looked down at her friend. Stephanie's face was gone. It had been replaced by a sickly looking creature that encompassed her entire head, the thing's tail wrapped firmly around her throat.

"Get it off!" Cassandra yelled to David and Kyle.

"It won't come off," David said as he dragged his own weary body over to the white sofa and plopped down, leaving Stephanie on the ground in the open doorway, half in and half out of the apartment. The still wet blood all over his clothes turned the sofa a ghastly shade of pink.

"Oh Jesus, what happened?" Kyle asked, pulling Stephanie into the room as Cassandra shut the door, crying hysterically.

"What the hell do you think happened!" David snapped harshly. "Jesus! This is unreal!"

"Dude, is that a gun?" Kyle asked eyeing the waistline of David's jeans.

"Yeah," he said, slumping back on the sofa.

"Wh...where'd you get it?"

"What? I took it of some body, he didn't need it anymore. It took me all night to get here. I'm glad I had it."

"What do you mean? Did you kill one? What's it like out there?" Kyle asked. "Where is everyone else?"

David shook his head.

"Gone. Dead. I don't know. People are either hiding out or they got the hell out of the city last night. Those things...they take you away. I watched them drag people, still alive, screaming... they just carried them off like ragdolls."

"Stop it!" Cassandra bellowed from her kneeling spot next to her friend. She was crying and shaking hysterically.

Kyle paced the apartment and David glared with anger at the frightened girl sobbing non stop over the limp carcass of her friend.

"Well, where were you?" Kyle asked him.

David ran a hand through his hair and sighed. He glanced at Cassandra quickly, then back to Kyle, leaning closer to him to whisper.

"We were out near the Battery when those things came up from underneath. We...there were like ten of us... we hid out as best we could. I don't really know what happened, but everyone was just _gone_."

"What! Oh Shit!" Kyle exclaimed.

"Yeah, I couldn't find anyone. I looked, but I couldn't find them. I found her, though, on my way the hell out. Got this guy's gun too, good thing, cause I got attacked."

"By one of those things?" Kyle whispered with shock.

"No, just this guy. He started screaming at me, jumped on me from out of nowhere. He was crazy or something."

"What did you do?" Kyle asked slowly, realizing he already knew the answer.

"I shot him, man," David replied with such a tone as if to suggest that there was no other possible course of action and he did not regret his actions.

Cassandra turned and eyed David with worry and suspicion. There was a brief pause as Kyle glanced to her and back to David.

"Do you...remember everything that happened last night?" Kyle asked suspiciously.

"What? Yeah... I mean, what the hell are you talking about?"

"Did you black out? Did one of those things attach to you? Maybe you have one inside you, just like Stephanie." Kyle questioned with nervous suspicion as Cassandra eyed them both warily.

"No," David said with a smirk, "no way, I would know, right? I know I don't. I went to get her when they grabbed her."

"You're bleeding," Kyle said suddenly, staring down at the once white couch. It was turning a darker and darker shade of red under David's left leg.

David glanced down and huffed. He rolled his pant leg up and revealed a large, deep triple tract of gashes through his thigh.

"How did that happen?" Kyle asked.

"I dunno. I don't re..." David stopped in his tracks and started at Kyle with the wide-eyed realization.

Suddenly Cassandra leapt with catlike reflexes shrieking with surprise as she jumped away from Stephanie. Both boys turned their heads quickly, jumping themselves.

The creature that had been attached to Stephanie's face slithered off her head, rolled onto its back as it thumped to the floor and folded its spidery legs up over its belly. It did not offer to move as the three stunned people stared quietly at it for a long while.

Kyle walked over to the animal, slowly, carefully. He eyed the thing warily and held his breath. After a moment he began to reach the toe of his boot out.

He thumped the thing quickly and halfway leapt back in anticipation that he might wake the thing up. When it did not move, Kyle thumped it again, harder. It did not move again. He drew his leg back and kicked the thing clean across the room. It slapped into the bathroom door and fell to the floor.

Kyle nodded, "It's dead."

Stephanie groaned from the floor at Kyle's feet. Cassandra stalked over to her friend cautiously, Kyle knelt down and helped her sit up. David sat on the sofa, hands clamped around his bleeding leg, watching the situation quietly, trying hard to recall exactly what had happened that night.

He could not remember being attacked by one of the crab things; he could not remember much at all. His mind seemed to skip from the early evening hours, just near dark when the animals stormed the streets to finding Stephanie on his way out of the tunnels below the city.

He vividly recalled the mad man jumping on him attacking and beating him, he remembered pulling the gun he had just found out from his waistline and shooting it, but the moments in between he could not recall. His eyes focused on Stephanie.

"Are you okay?" Cassandra asked through her tears.

"Yeah," Stephanie said weakly with a slight questioning tone as though she was not exactly sure. "I just...what happened? How did I? Wha...?"

"Just take it easy, alright. Dave brought you home," Kyle started.

Cassandra tried to pull herself together and dry her eyes. "It's okay, don't worry."

Stephanie glanced around at the wide eyed people watching her as though they did not believe their own words to her. She focused on David who looked torn and terrified from deep within.

"What...what happened Dave?"

He stared at her with tears in his reddening eyes, his body ached and his chest felt heavy as the truth about what was over swept him. He clenched his jaws and kept eye contact with Stephanie as he simply shook his head slowly from side to side.

Stephanie started to sob. Weeping herself, Cassandra tried to console her friend as she helped her over to a seat on the daybed.

Kyle glanced around and let his eyes settle on the television for a moment. More images from cities around the country filled the screen. People were being dropped off out of transport vehicles into what the media were calling 'safety zones'.

Intermingled into and around the masses of evacuated populations, armed officers paced back and forth slowly, keeping careful watch on the people all around them.

"I think we should get to a safety zone," Kyle said.

The people in the room eyed him, but said nothing. He turned to face Cassandra.

"It'll be safer."

"Safer than what?" David said through a hoarse voice. "It isn't safe outside. We should just stay put.

"I don't want to leave," Cassandra said shakily. "I think David's right. It's not safe outside. Who knows if we could even get there alright?"

"There's military patrols, they'll be out looking for people alive, they'll take us. Look, if they decide to drop a bomb or something, I don't think we should be here."

"Bomb?!" Stephanie gasped. "We're getting bombed?"

"No, I just…" Kyle started but his voice drained off as David began to cough furiously.

Cassandra stared at her toes and tried hard to hold back tears.

"I..." David coughed as he took to his feet. "I could go find one and send them here to get you."

"What?" Kyle started. "No, we stay as a group for safety, if one goes we all, but maybe... maybe we should all stay."

"No," David said, pulling the gun out from his belt and handing it to Kyle, who gave him a questioning look.

"I don't need this, you will." David said slowly, his voice raspy, as though one might sound who has had a long lasting severe throat ache.

He suddenly jolted into a furious coughing spell until blood began to seep from his mouth and nose.

"Oh, man, Dude…" Kyle said warily.

Cassandra began to shake and cry, knowing exactly what David's behavior was indicative of. She upset Stephanie who likewise began to cry with confusion as she looked from Cassandra to the two men in the middle of the room.

"I just need to go... don't worry about me man, I'll be fine." David said between gasps for air.

He walked past Kyle, who said nothing and simply stared at the gun in his hand. David popped the door open and slid out, slamming the door behind him without a word. Stephanie cried harder as David left.

She shot up and stormed over to the door, sobbing and calling to David. Cassandra could hear the echoes of David's coughing as he quickly descended the floors of the apartment building. She said nothing to stop her friend as Stephanie ran out the door after him.

Cassandra simply broke down in tears, put her head in her hands and shook violently. Kyle started towards her, but stopped and stared blankly as Stephanie's high shrieks and terrified screams filled the air from the streets outside.

Sounds of gunfire rang out and Stephanie screamed once again. Cassandra picked her head up as Kyle launched over to the window. Several men were standing in the street, shooting what looked like automatic weapons, chaotically spreading gunfire through the streets.

They shattered windshields and ricocheted bullets between cars and off buildings, but it did not seem from Kyle's perspective that they had even come close to hitting their target. Stephanie quickly came thundering back into the apartment, hysterical with fear, sobbing incoherently.

Cassandra knew what Stephanie had witnessed, and she knew David was dead. She knew there was nothing that could be done.

"Are those military outside?" She asked.

Kyle shook his head. "They're not military."

Cassandra and Kyle sat in silence as an exhausted Stephanie lay on the bed and passed out. They merely watched the news reports, and it all began to come together.

The reporter they watched sitting in a comfortable chair from a studio in a most likely unaffected area of the country interviewed a self-proclaimed expert on the outbreak. If any of the information the man offered was accurate, the interview was useful, albeit disturbing.

The pair on television began by discussing the tired old statements that viewers need only remain calm and indoors until the military can clean up the affected areas. Cassandra found herself believing the notion of a clean-up effort or rescue less and less. Still, she listened on as they discussed the possible origins of the animals.

"One thing is for certain, Dana," the man being interviewed began at one point, "and that is that these animals, and yes they are animals, must be exterminated quickly and efficiently. They are capable breeders, and their act of reproduction involves the death of the living host. Now, I don't want to add fear to an already difficult situation, but these creatures,"

"' _Difficult situation'_ ", Kyle snapped. "Where the hell has this guy been living?"

"Shh…" Cassandra urged.

The interview continued, "… the ability to outnumberhumans as the dominant species on this planet."

"What do you suggest as our course of retaliation?" The reporter asked.

"I believe we should identify the animals' breeding grounds, assuming that there are multiple sites throughout the country, and destroy them," he paused emphatically. "Through any means possible, whether that be manual extermination or aerial bombardement."

"Wouldn't that put thousands of people at risk?" The reporter shot back, with a dismissive tone in her voice

The man shrugged and flared his fingers. "Many areas have been evacuated already, so evacuate what you need, find the breeding grounds, there should be no loss of human life at all, really. Clean, quick annihilation."

The reporter faced the camera, "We will keep you, the viewers, updated to the latest events and how they affect your location. For now, back to Steve Mindly in the field, reporting from the Civic Center in downtown Atlanta."

The next reporter popped up on the screen amidst a sea of sleeping bags and personal belongings packed into a crowded amphitheater. He discussed how the citizens were handling their evictions from their homes, and interviewed many unhappily inconvenienced people.

"You know, it's funny how they're not showing you what's happening outside. It's all about what's going on inside." Kyle said after a while.

"What do you mean?" Cassandra asked, not really noticing until now that the last reports that showed anything from the outdoors was from hours ago.

"It's like they were told not to show the outside... look," he flipped through the entire channel line up. "None of them are outdoors."

"Well, it's easy enough to see what's going on, but I don't want to do. I just want to stay right here. Right here where it's safe."

Stephanie suddenly woke with a great groan and harsh cough as if she was choking. Cassandra and Kyle turned to her just as she sat up and leaned forward, a thick stream of blood pouring from her mouth trailing down to the wood floor below her bare feet.

"Oh God," Cassandra whispered, tears welling up in her eyes again. She was not prepared to watch her friend die. She stood up and paced, hands on her eyes wiping tears away as she bit her tongue and tried hard to imagine this was not happening.

Kyle quickly headed to Stephanie's side as she dropped limply off the sofa and whimpered, clawing the floor with her nails and pulling herself forward. Blood filled her mouth, poured from her ears and her eyes tuned red.

Cassandra howled hysterically and dropped to the ground, unable to move, unable to take her eyes away. Kyle jumped back but then tried to turn Stephanie onto her back.

She did it herself. As though seizuring, Stephanie clambered over onto her back and shook intensely. She hardly made any noise, just strained gurgling whimpers and groans before she stopped moving and fell still as her red sequined crop top turned black with fresh blood.

Cassandra shut her eyes and cried loudly, but not enough to drown out the terrible sounds of cracking bone, which she had become all to familiar with already. Kyle shouted and leapt backwards, fumbling for the gun he had put awkwardly into his back belt loop.

It clanked to the floor as the hatchling emerged from Stephanie's dead chest. Kyle's eyes grew wide as he focused on it and realized at the same moment that with the only door to the little apartment shut, and the windows unopenable, they were trapped inside with the devilish monster.

He dropped to his knees and grabbed the fallen gun as the thing jumped clear out of Stephanie's body and darted directly towards Cassandra, who still was hiding her face.

"Look out!" Kyle called quickly, pointing the gun in his shaking hands almost directly at Cassandra.

She tore her hands away from her eyes and barely had time to register the sickly hatchling speeding towards her before she bolted for Kyle, trying hard to ignore the body on the floor only a few feet away. Kyle shot the gun three times until it clicked on the fourth trigger pull.

"Shit!"

Each bullet had sunk into the walls of the apartment and the new born monster was scanning the far wall quickly for an escape route, hissing.

"Let's go!" Kyle shouted and grabbed Cassandra's hand.

Together they bolted to the door and flung it open. They thundered down the stairs, but as they came to pass the third floor apartment's door, it swung open so hard it slammed the wall on the inside and audibly cracked the thin sheet rock wall.

The furious old man that opened the door shouted at the top of his musty lungs and cocked and raised a shotgun towards both Cassandra and Kyle, who screamed loudly as they slammed to a stop on the stairwell.

"What the hell is going on?! Stay away from me you kids!" The man shouted.

Stunned and frightened, neither Kyle nor Cassandra made a sound as they eyed the shotgun wielding man, but a hissing sound drew all three's attention toward the stairwell above.

As the hatchling monster bolted down the stairwell, the old man raised his shotgun. Kyle grabbed Cassandra and they ducked out of the way, for the old man seemed to offer no discrimination between either of them or the blood covered animal that was darting down the staircase.

With a furious howl the man pulled the trigger. The stairwell echoed with the loud bang of the gun and Cassandra covered her ears as she cried out, deafened by the blast.

The monster disappeared and the old man stomped forward and glared through the hole he had just blown into the stairwell. He cursed loudly and fired the gun again. People in the building on the second and first floors shouted and bolted from their apartments, out the front door and ran into the streets.

The old man seemed content with his shooting and without another word he trudged back into his apartment, slammed the door shut again as Cassandra and Kyle scaled the steps two or three at a time and ran out behind the lower level neighbors. They stood in shocked silence for a moment just outside the entry door.

"Do you think he got it?" Kyle asked.

Cassandra just stared at him with wide eyes as she caught her breath.

They both glanced around the streets, watching the backs of a few scared people disappear around the corner at the end of the block. The road was vacant of cars, and the ones that were parked had been riddled with bullet holes.

In a moment, silence fell, and Cassandra only just noticed that the sun was shining, the temperature was warm, a gentle breeze was blowing. Despite the beautiful day, the city, for as much as she could see or hear, was bloody and dead.

Suddenly a car alarm, perhaps from a block away, maybe two, it was hard to tell, filled the air followed quickly by gun shots and echoing voices of screaming people.

As they looked around, they saw David's body slumped against the short wrought iron fencing in front of the next building.

"Maybe….maybe we should go back up." Kyle said softly, his voice cracking the silence between them as they looked at David's corpse.

"I don't think…" Cassandra started to protest, but she fell silent as she looked around the street. There did not seem to be any good options, and Kyle was already starting back inside the building, slowly and quietly.

They crept up the stairs, ducking under the peep hole of the third floor apartment, holding their breath and tiptoeing along, warily careful not to make a sound as they headed up the stairs, jumping the broken stairs from the shot gun blast.

The stairs almost looked like they were dissolving away in a large section. They opened the door to the apartment and both peered in cautiously. Cassandra's eyes fell instantly onto the body of Stephanie sprawled on the floor and she broke down once again.

Kyle took a deep breath and held it as he walked in and looked around. Once he was reasonably certain there was no imminent danger, he covered the body with several sheets from the bed and turned Cassandra away. They sat down on the ground near the television. Cassandra caught a glimpse of her cell phone from the corner of her eye and she quickly grabbed it and tried to dial out. The display simply read 'network busy' and did not dial out.

The television still stuck to reports about the evacuated people, no longer offering any glimpses into the outside world. As the sun began to set over the city, Cassandra could feel her tiredness slip away, giving rise to a new rush of adrenaline. Every so often she held her breath, listening to the world outside for any whisper of a sound from one of the monstrous black animals.

"Do you think those animals will attack again tonight?" She whispered as she eyed the broken city street below.

"I don't know," Kyle fidgeted uneasily.

Both fell quiet, and soon, crouched against the wall farthest away from the windows as possible, they found sleep. The shrieking sounds of a horde of monsters rose through the room once again, almost immediately after the final glimpse of dusk light slipped behind the night time sky.

The shrieking and hissing that woke them both was not coming from out in the streets beyond the room's window. As Cassandra and Kyle looked warily around the apartment, they realized that the people they were watching live on television had all fallen silent, the camera panning the walls of the stadium shelter.

The crowded gymnasium was silent and still. Frightened people were visibly shaking and as the military troops the camera now scanned organized themselves and marched forth, Cassandra thought they too looked fearful and uncertain.

They watched the television with more attention and suspense than any movie ever created could possibly produce. The pan of the camera followed a group of officers as they walked carefully behind their guns towards the doors until the only thing left to be seen of the officers was their flashlights bouncing down the dark corridor beyond.

Several armed men still waited near the cameraman, weapons ready, but their backs turned to the double doors as they watched the people inside the room instead. A silent, tense moment grew as all watched, waiting for something, anything to happen.

The creature's evil hissing that had filled the night air so profoundly a moment ago had ceased. For what seemed like an eternity, there was nothing; not a sound, not a breath. No one seemed to move.

Suddenly shots rang out and the people in the gym screamed and huddled together, the military officers on camera were trying to keep those in their charge calm and quiet while one other got on the radio immediately to find out what was happening. The persistent gunfire never gave up and the officer yelling into his radio received no answer.

More howling rang out. Cassandra and Kyle exchanged wide eyed glances and Cassandra darted for the television, clicking it off. The sounds of the animals' hissing and shrieking calls to one another still rang out loudly after the television fell silent.

Cassandra and Kyle both looked towards the windows, realizing the sound was from the street below. They grabbed hands and darted behind the kitchen counter, huddling quietly in the darkness, listening to the sounds of the animals outside.

Trying hard not to make a noise, Cassandra put her hands up to her face and shook in Kyle's arms. Kyle swallowed and bit his lip, but said nothing until the sounds had long passed.

"They're coming out at night. We can't stay here anymore." He whispered into her ear.

After a long while Cassandra found the ability to speak in a whisper and responded. "We can't leave now, we'll get killed."

Kyle nodded in agreement. "In the morning we go."

Cassandra nodded.

The two spent the remainder of the night huddled behind the small kitchen counter, away from the window of the apartment.


	12. Chapter 11

**CHAPTER ELEVEN**

The sounds of the animals' shrieks and squeals did not cease until after the morning light had broken through the clouds. Cassandra and Kyle had opened their eyes just before dawn and they listened to the shrill voices rising up through the vacant streets below.

It was clear to them, as they stayed quiet and still behind the kitchen counter, occasionally glancing over at the pile of sheets that covered the body of their friend, that the creatures had claimed the streets and ruled the neighborhood.

No longer were there sounds of screaming fearful people from the streets, no gunfire was heard throughout the night, no sirens nor alarms, nor squealing tires echoed up to their ears at all. Only the shrieks of the animals as they passed through the streets and climbed on the buildings resonated in the early morning light.

If there were any people still around, Cassandra assumed they must be hiding in very much the same fashion as she and Kyle were; too afraid to make a noise, simply hiding in darkness and hoping against hope that the animals did not sense their presence.

Cassandra wondered if the man in apartment three was still there, clutching his shotgun and hiding in fear. Perhaps he was sitting in a rocking chair with the gun in his lap casually looking out the window, calmly awaiting his chance to kill just one more monster, or perhaps he was simply contemplating his own demise.

There was no noise offered in the apartment building throughout the entire night to offer any clue as to anyone's presence.

Her thoughts bounced from wondering if there were any survivors still in the building to wondering where the military presence was, as she thought about the new reports that assured everyone rescue was on the way.

She thought about the stadium full of people and the hissing and shrieking sounds of the alien beasts. She wondered if any of those people on television made it through the night, or if they all ended up like Stephanie and David.

As the dawn light began to peek through the blinds on the large front window, Cassandra and Kyle still sat frozen with fear. The sounds of the creature's vile calls to one another did not die down. The animals still stalked the morning streets, fearless and confident that they claimed this world.

At first Cassandra had found herself figuring that these creatures were nocturnal, and that was why they had disappeared into the tunnels below ground as yesterday morning had arisen. Now, however, she decided either she was wrong about that, or it was just simply a matter of dominance.

The animals had no enemies, so they did not need to vacate the streets.

It was not until well after morning light that the streets fell quiet finally. Kyle slowly untwined himself from Cassandra's grip and cautiously and quietly slid across the floor, crouching low, until he reached the window. Cassandra stayed put and watched with wide eyed anticipation.

Kyle gently peered out of the blinds, trying hard not to rattle the plastic strips together so as not to make any noise at all. He held his breath and studied the outside scenery.

The street outside looked incredibly similar to the way it looked the last time he laid eyes on it the afternoon before.

The same cars were still in the same spots, several still smashed together, one still abandoned halfway on the street and halfway on the sidewalk on the other side of the block.

David's body still lay slumped on the sidewalk in front of the building next door, an eerie reminder of yesterday's events.

Many of the cars still were covered in two day old blood smears, still riddled with bullets, windows still broken. Some of the apartments across the street had broken windows and a flickering orange light from somewhere in the near distance told Kyle something large was on fire.

Nothing was moving. There did not even appear to be a breath of wind in the hot July morning. Not even a leaf on a tree shook. There was not even a distant echo of any activity in the streets far beyond the windows. Even through the sealed window, Kyle felt the hairs on the back on his neck stand on end as he sensed the nothingness outside.

"Creepy," he whispered.

Cassandra stared at him with fearful eyes. "What?"

Kyle faced her and propped his back against the wall below the window. He kept his voice low. "There's just nothing out there. It's so quiet. It's weird."

"Are those things out there?" Cassandra whispered slowly.

"No," Kyle shook his head. "There's nothing."

Cassandra frowned and slowly began to creep forward until she had reached the window as well. She gazed out onto the streets, somewhat expecting to see literally nothing. No cars, no trees, nothing at all. But when she looked out she understood what Kyle had meant.

It was such an unusual thing. To have been so used to seeing people out at all hours of the day and night, especially in a morning during pre-work commuting hours.

This was the time of the day, perhaps more so than any other day, that the streets would normally be jam packed with yellow cabs and vehicles of all makes and models trying hard to push themselves an extra inch closer to the next intersection and that much closer to their destinations.

The sidewalks would normally be crammed with large crowds walking hurriedly to their jobs. It was so strange to see no activity at all.

She watched a while longer, letting the still and quiet of the morning sick in. She stared until she was shaking with fear from the lack of any life on the outside and she pulled herself away from the window as quickly as she could manage.

"What should we do?" She asked quietly.

She had no real desire to leave the apartment. Even with the corpse of her dead friend on the ground not far from her, she still felt safer in the apartment than out on the streets.

She did not even want to attempt to get to her aunt and uncle's house; it was simply too far away. Not only that, but she did not even know if they were home.

Part of her feared being in the large crowded area of a government handled shelter, because she knew the creatures were out stalking the streets looking for living hosts to breed in. Being in a large room full of potential hosts did not seem like the safest of choices to Cassandra. Still, she knew she would not be able to hold up with Kyle in the apartment for much longer.

It would be only a matter of time before the monsters did find them, or their food ran out. Cassandra and Stephanie were very much 'go-outers', so they had little food at all in their apartment.

Although it was hard for Cassandra, who had seemed to lose her appetite days ago and had not eaten since, to imagine even wanting food, she still realized she would need to eat at some point.

"I don't know." Kyle said softly as he started to crawl to the television. He clicked it on and immediately punched the volume button to turn the volume all the way down. There was no image on the monitor, just black and white fuzz.

"That's weird," he muttered.

When the volume was as low as it could get he tapped the channel button and flicked through the stations. The next channel had the same snowy fuzz. The next station was working, but the image was a little sketchy.

"Something must be wrong with the…" He whispered as Cassandra crawled near.

They watched the images quietly, trying to read the reporter's lips, too afraid to turn the volume up any higher. The man on the screen was standing in the front lobby of another packed arena, but Cassandra and Kyle did not recognize the place.

"Turn it up a little," she whispered.

Kyle carefully turned the volume up just enough that if they held their breath and strained their ears just enough they could hear the man's voice. The reporter was speaking more about evacuated areas and a possible planned military strike. It did not take long to realize that they were watching a broadcast from Atlanta.

He flicked through the channels again. The few stations that were broadcasting were not covering anything to do with New York.

As he pressed the button and sifted through the networks, all the images on every channel became one and the same once again. Another Presidential address was about to be given. They stopped and watched.

The man who took to the podium was not the President, rather it was the Secretary of Defense. Kyle and Cassandra listened as the man on the stage announced that the military had identified what they were calling a 'hive' in a mountainous region of Southern California.

The man informed his viewers that the entire southern regions of California and Nevada had been completely evacuated, offering the military a casualty free one hundred fifty mile radius from the confirmed nesting grounds.

The plan, as the man described, was to have two phases. The first would be drop several bombs on the area and the second would be an armored expedition into the hive grounds to eliminate any remaining threat.

The plan sounded fool proof, and the man promised that citizens that had been disheveled from their homes would be allowed back into the evacuated area as soon as possible. He also indicated that following a confirmed annihilation of that particular hive, a massive search and destroy effort for any other hives would commence across the country.

"How do they know that can get them all," Kyle whispered.

"What if that's not the only hive?" Cassandra wondered softly. "You know, there could be all these breeding grounds right under our noses and we don't even know."

"Well, hopefully that will be it," Kyle said quickly.

"Madison Square Garden." Cassandra said suddenly.

"What?"

"It's a big place, it's probably a shelter area, do you think?"

Kyle thought for a moment and nodded, "Let's do it."

Courtesy of Stephanie's father, the apartment the girls had lived in, if only for a very short time period, was fairly close to everything. It was only about seventeen blocks to Madison Square Garden, which seemed like the most likely place for a shelter of any sort.

Normally, walk from their home to the Garden might take about thirty minutes, considering traffic and other pedestrians.

Kyle and Cassandra talked for a moment, plotting their route for speediness. Cassandra packed up some bottled water into an oversized back and after a few minutes, they were as ready as they could be to head out into the empty morning streets.

Kyle reached for the handle of the apartment door hesitantly, but pulled the door open all the same. He took a deep breath as he walked over the threshold, Cassandra following, gripping his hand tightly.

They stopped for a moment at the top of the stairs and listened to the nothingness all around them. After a moment of considering staying indoors, the pair slowly and carefully stepped down onto the top stair softly.

The old wooden stairwell creaked and groaned under their weight, despite their efforts to tiptoe down them. They both paused, holding their breath, waiting to see if anyone responded or anything moved.

It was a slow descent as they walked as quietly as possible, and avoided the hole in the stairwell that had been shot into it by the man in number three. Cassandra glanced at his door as they passed, quietly wondering what he was doing inside and halfway expecting him to thrust the door open and shoot them. She was grateful when they had passed the door and reached the second floor with no incident.

When they reached the bottom of the stairwell, they both gave a little sigh of relief to be off the creaking steps. Cassandra found herself staring into the first floor unit, the door was wide open, but there was no sign of movement.

They made no sounds as Kyle opened the door to the outside slowly, after trying hard to glance through the textured glass doors to discern any movement in the streets.

The front door unlatched and popped open with a little click that seemed as loud as gunfire compared to the silent hallway and outdoor streets. Slowly, the pair stepped out onto the city sidewalk.

They tried hard not to look at the corpse still on the ground just outside the door. Cassandra still felt her eyes fall upon David's body and tears welled up in her eyes when the thought of both he and Stephanie, still laying upstairs filled her mind.

She felt like she was abandoning them, the apartment she so strongly wanted, and her life that she had hoped to lead. Somehow she felt as she stepped carefully down the sidewalk, watching the ground warily as though it might attack and carefully avoiding the cracks in the cement with more efficiency than the most obsessive compulsive she could imagine, that her life was indeed over.

She could not help but to feel that somehow, the moment she left the apartment, that she signed a waiver, erasing her former life and binding her to a new, uncertain future. The thought made her sick to her stomach.

It could have also been the wretched smell that could only be made from death that was making her nauseous, but the idea of never going back to the life she wanted weighed hard on her mind and stomach. She couldn't imagine what was to come in the next minute, the next month; the next years.

They reached the end of the block and both craned their necks around the corner of the building, glancing to the north, then south waiting for signs of any movement. Again, there was nothing. Not a soul in sight on the streets or anywhere as far as either's eye could see.

Everywhere they looked, they saw sights similar to the street just outside the apartment building's door. Vacated cars, open doors to buildings that would have normally been barred closed and locked, smashed windows, empty bullet casings.

There was not a breath of wind, nor a sound in the air. Manhattan was like a ghost town as far as they could see. They continued on quietly.

They passed one block, then two, effortlessly. Eventually, they were far enough away from their familiar surroundings of the empty streets that the sights around them changed completely.

They stopped and stared, sickly pale and nauseous as they looked around. They had gone from ghost town to warzone in the span of just a few blocks. The streets before them were lined with bodies, so tightly packed together, they were piled two or three on top of each other.

The bodies were mangled, from what Cassandra could see through her teary eyes, but they did not appear to have been hosts; many of the people she saw did not have blown out chests.

The street ran red with blood and the faces of the dead were permanently etched with looks of shock, fear, and pain, but none looked as though they had suffered the fate of being a breeding host.

Cassandra tried hard not to break down into hysterics seeing the many tortured bodies on the street. Kyle slowly and cautiously approached the first one he came to and followed the dried trickle of blood from the sidewalk to the man's torso, where a large gash was ripped out of his side.

It looked like he was bit by one of the massive black creatures. The next body they saw was that of an elderly woman, slammed onto the hood of a car, her head torn clean open from the eye socket to the skull, with definite scratch marks from taloned claws.

Kyle felt sick looking at the ghastly sight and Cassandra began to whimper and cry.

They walked quickly through the wretched scene, trying hard not to look too intently at any more bodies. They crossed the street and found even more bodies scattered throughout the next block and they picked up their pace.

As they crossed onto another block, they both came to a stunned halt outside a bakery. The streets until then were ripe with the stench of death and decay as well as a fading scent of gunpowder, but as they crossed the intersection the air turned sweet and pleasing.

A wonderful and unexpected smell of fresh baked treats permeated the streets. The smell was overwhelming, clashing drastically with the scent of blood, sulfur, and death. Cassandra turned and looked through the bakery window, which had several bullet holes in it and a very large splattering of blood.

Behind the counter, an old man, scrawny thin and wrinkled with time, was tending to his ovens and wiping the counter tops and display cases. Cassandra exchanged a stunned glance with Kyle and they both entered the shop quietly and apprehensively.

The man was talking softly, a thin smile on his face as he wiped the counter with a bloody rag, streaking the surface red. Though his words were foreign and his accent was thick, Cassandra could tell beyond a doubt that what he was going on about.

He has tears in his deep bloodshot eyes, and he too looked as though he had not slept in days. He was hysterical, disoriented, but he was aware that they had walked in and he glanced at them, beaming widely as his voice lifted and he extended a hand towards them, welcoming them into his store.

There was a gun on the counter near the cash register, which Cassandra spotted Kyle eyeing and she shook her head, worried he might set the man off if he reached for it.

Cassandra turned back to the man, who had turned around and pulled open the door to a bread oven. He slipped on a hot pad over his hand and pulled out a tray full of steaming hot bread and began to slice it up with a knife covered in blood as he started to hum.

"Sir?" Cassandra asked slowly in calm, comforting, but shaky, voice.

The man behind the counter jumped. He turned on his heels and began screaming hysterically in a language Cassandra did not understand. The two jumped and the man started over to the counter, in the direction of the gun lying there.

Cassandra and Kyle bolted for the door and they ran as fast as they could as far away as they could, and did not come to a halt until they were just about a block from Madison Square Garden.

They pulled to a halt and caught their breath for a moment, glancing around at the empty streets around them.

"There's no army here," Kyle said.

They looked around again. The streets were packed with some abandoned cars, parked cars, and some emergency vehicles, and occasional bodies, which they simply ignored, but there was no sign of military activity or any activity at all.

They scanned the streets looking for any evidence that the Garden was being used for shelter, but saw none. A rattling sound from a dark crevice between two buildings next to them got their attention and they both jumped, shouting, into the street, putting some distance between the noise and themselves as they watched with wide eyes as a ragged looking dog, dragging a chain attached to its collar appeared from an open cellar door.

"Huh," Cassandra grunted with a deep sigh.

They turned around to face the Garden once again and a man they did not see before was standing right in front of them. Both jumped with a start and watched him as they backed slightly away.

"Where are you going?" He said suspiciously.

Cassandra found herself habitually eyeing what he wore. The man looked like a homeless man in a business suit. He had a wide eyed mad look to his face and his once expensive suit was ripped and tattered, dirty, and splattered with blood.

"M...mm...Madison Square..." Kyle started slowly.

"Why?" The man snapped cutting him off.

"We're looking for help," Cassandra said from halfway hidden behind Kyle's shoulder.

"No help here kids, no help here." The man said, falling back from his overbearing position as he waved his palms at them.

"I've got to get to the airport! I have a flight at five. S'posed to be in Dallas for a corporate meeting tomorrow. I can't give you any money. I need a cab…" the man looked around and ran his fingers through his messy, dirty, blood encrusted hair.

He looked at them once again as though he had never seen Cassandra of Kyle before. "You goin' to the airport? Can I get a ride?"

"Uh...no," Kyle said as he and Cassandra began to shuffle off. "Good luck."

As they hustled off without another word exchanged to the man, Cassandra gripped tightly onto Kyle's arm.

"What did he mean 'no help here'?" She whispered.

"I don't know, Cassy. It doesn't look like there's anybody around, does it?" Kyle responded.

They approached the building and without hesitation, pulled the front door open and stepped inside. The place was brightly lit, but deserted.

The lobby was clean and empty, the concessions stands all had their gates locked down. The corridors were organized and neat, the garbage cans had clean bags, and the floor was shining. Other little kiosks in the wide aisleway around the building were still draped over, their trinkets protected.

Kyle opened a door to the arena itself and Cassandra braced herself for some horrible nightmare vision to greet them as they stepped into the massive area.

Every seat was empty, not a sign at all that anyone had even sought shelter inside was present. The floors were as shiny and clean as they could be and every seat was folded up.

Kyle and Cassandra walked clean around the arena area, through all the corridors, into the unauthorized areas, looking for anyone at all, but there was no one to be found. Oddly, all the doors were unlocked and the pair was able to access everything from managers' offices to VIP boxes and broadcasting booths, but there was no hint of a person.

Kyle took a deep sigh and thumped onto a desk in an announcer's booth.

"Great, now what?"

"I'm sorry, I just thought that this..." Cassandra started but stopped short and shook her head.

"It's okay, I thought so too. Where else do you think we should try? Where else would help be?"

They fell quiet as they both thought of other areas to seek shelter. They began to rattle off a list of possibilities.

"Definitely not anywhere more south of here, that's the area that got attacked first." Kyle thought aloud.

"Maybe in...a mall or something?" Cassandra wondered, halfway hoping she would never go into a mall again.

"It's got to be somewhere big, obvious."

"Any of the police stations?" Cassandra said with a shrug.

"Maybe." Kyle nodded, "Maybe Grand Central Station?"

"A train station? I don't want to go in a train station either. I haven't had good experiences with malls and subways lately."

Kyle smiled and nodded. "What about the Port Authority?"

"I guess we should have gone there first, it's closer than this was." Cassandra said with a shrug.

"What if there is no one?" Kyle said with a drifting tone to his voice.

"What do you mean?" Cassandra questioned.

"What if they're all dead."

"No," Cassandra shook her head. "That's not possible. A lot of people fled that's why no one's here. They could be in JFK or …or…something we just need to find them. We find people then it'll be OK, we'll have help. If our numbers are big enough maybe we can defend ourselves until the military strike and kill them all."

"I just..." Kyle started.

"No, Kyle, come on." Cassandra cut him off.

He nodded and the two got up and headed out of the arena and back out onto the streets. It had taken them close to an hour to stalk slowly down the streets of the city and find themselves at Madison Square.

By the time they had searched the building high and low and considered the possibilities of where to find shelter and more people nearly two hours had passed. The morning was moving on, but there was no activity immediately outside the arena doors.

They walked about a block and a half away from the Garden, past the abandoned cars, the bodies in the streets and the bloods stains and bullet holes to which they were now becoming desensitized to.

They talked softly to one another, each fearful that perhaps too loud of a voice might spark something evil to emerge from the streets, or the grounds below.

"Look!" Cassandra suddenly called out loudly with great excitement.

Kyle looked down the block to where she was pointing and a smile cracked his lips as well. The two darted down the street calling out.

"Hey! Hey!"

A small group of people were filing into the streets from some of the buildings, many carrying bags and belongings. They all looked lost, many had tears in their eyes.

People of all ages clamored around the cars simply left in the streets and many, shocked by the sights of the blood and the bodies started to weep while others offered consoling words to them.

"Hi, can you help us?" Kyle said as they approached one of the men in the group.

"Can't help you kids, but you can come with us."

The pair smiled widely. "Where are you going?" They asked almost simultaneously.

The man raised his eyebrows as three other men joined him.

"We were just talking about that, actually," one of the men said.

"We...we were thinking the Port Authority." Kyle added in.

Cassandra watched warily the others in the streets as they grouped together and supported each other.

Kyle and the other men considered the Port Authority Terminal for a moment.

"Nah, the Garden, we should go to…" one man started.

"We just came from there!" Cassandra said sharply.

"It's a ghost town, there's no one there."

The men gazed at the two teenagers and contemplated their words.

"What do you think?" One man said to the other.

He shrugged then nodded. "Better than sitting here."

He turned to the people in the street, making sure everyone was ready to move. "Ok, let's go!"

The group started off at a slow pace, making certain that all were able to keep up. Some of the people were injured, some young, some old, so even though no one wanted to be caught out on the streets when the monsters attacked again, there was little choice but to travel slowly to be sure no one got left behind.

"Name's Cliff," the leader of the group said, extending a hand towards Kyle.

"Kyle," he said shaking the man's hand. "This is Cassandra."

"Hi," Cliff said.

"Hi," Cassandra replied.

As the group walked, they discussed with each other what each had been through. Their stories were all very similar. Cliff told of the last two nights they had spent huddled in the buildings. The group that followed them were all strangers or neighbors brought together by the need to survive, be near other people, and seek shelter and safety.

"We had the T.V. on all night, the local channels went off at about two or three in the morning." Cliff said.

"We didn't turn it on, they were right outside the whole night." Cassandra whispered.

"Yeah, then we tried to figure out where to go, so we went to the Garden," Kyle added.

"I'm amazed you kids got there by yourself in one piece."

Cassandra gritted her teeth. She was sick of being referred to as a _kid_.

"Yeah," Kyle said with a slight questioning tone.

They walked slowly and cautiously through a rather indirect route. Besides the scattered corpses in the road, each one of which seemed more gruesome than the last one, nothing else was encountered en route.

No other people, nor ragged looking dogs, nor any other life form seemed to be stalking the streets that morning. Cassandra glanced from time to time at the people behind her.

She did not take a head count, but thought there were at least fifty in the group. However, the little pack of people seemed very small compared to the vast empty streets totally devoid of life of any kind.

When they finally reached the Port Authority Terminal they slowed the group to a halt to evaluate the area. If there was a military shelter there, there were no vehicles outside to identify the building as such. There were no sounds or signs of anyone else other than the small group.

After a brief moment of warily eyeing their surroundings, Cliff reached for one of the many entrance doors into the large structure and walked through.

Kyle and Cassandra headed inside a moment later. The walkways past the small shops and kiosks were vacant, but blood covered. There was obvious signs of a struggle in the building, unlike the Garden that seemed totally oblivious to all that was going on outside.

The Port Authority had seen a fight. Several of the small shops had windows broken and bullet riddled, one kiosk that sold City memorabilia was knocked over, its display contents strewn across the aisle.

The very large display case in the center of the lobby, not far from the escalators, which featured an interesting 'cat and mouse' clock, with many winding tracks for the little golf balls inside that would drop down their chutes as the clock operated, was completely shattered.

The glass housing added glitter to the bloody floor and all the carefully designed pieces of the clock were shattered and crushed.

The group stared at the wreckage quietly and shifted over the broken glass trying hard not to make noise. The escalators were running and one by one, the group stepped onto them, up to the second level.

"Hold!" Someone yelled, aiming a gun at the group.

Everyone threw their hands up in the air as they reached the top of the escalator. Three men dressed in bloody army fatigues took a moment to consider the group before lowering their weapons and indicating towards the area around a corner behind them.

Kyle and Cassandra made the turn to find what they had been looking for. A jam packed food court full of people unable to return to their homes. There were probably twenty or so men and women in military uniforms bearing automatic weapons intermingled with the group, or on guard around it.

Some of the civilians in the group also held guns. The group of civilians probably reached over two hundred in the food court. The people Cassandra had traveled with moved into the group like they had all known each other for years.

Some reached out to help the injured, while others came to bring the children to a small group of kids on the farthest end of the court.

"Oh thank God." Cassandra whispered as she eyed the people in the large area.

They moved into the group and were offered a spot on the ground along one wall, which they gladly accepted. The woman who waved them over greeted them with a warm and friendly smile.

Her eyes reflected the miseries she had been witness to, but she still conveyed friendliness and warmth. She began to tell them her story before either Kyle or Cassandra were able to ask.

"We've been here for two days. The officers there, they're all very nice, they said they are waiting reinforcements, they are on their way they told us. They've been doing a good job holding them back. The creatures are right below us all the time, they're in the tunnels. But there's more men down there, protecting us. The animals come out at night mostly. They've managed to shoot so many of them already. We're okay, you'll be okay too, kids, don't you worry."

The woman rattled on a bit more with a kind tone in her voice, but she still gave the effect of a woman who was losing her mind. She bounced from one subject to another and occasionally talked to the floor or wall before looking back at Kyle and Cassandra and changing back to her original topic. The two listened but said nothing.

Cassandra glanced around at the people in the room, many of whom had a look of despair on their faces. They seemed lost, like they had known that they should be at work this morning, living their life, earning their money, but instead here they were held up in a food court, however far they were from home, and with no real certainty about whether or not they might ever see their homes or families again.

She could tell by looking at them that they felt the same thing she felt that morning when she left her home and stepped out onto the war torn city streets.

At least for now the group was comfortable. Several people cooked meals in the various shops of the court as the evening rolled in. Though all tried hard to keep their voices quiet, they still offered jokes and storytelling and mingled with each other like they were at a quiet party.

The children played on the far side of the food court like they were in the strangest sleep over they had ever been in. As long as the adults around them seemed content the children were readily able to form a genuine smile and laugh innocently.

Though many of the adults did the same, it was obviously forced and uncertain to those who looked on.

"Alright guys," one of the military officers called out quietly and the room fell silent just after the group had finished a variety meal courtesy of the vacated fast food outlets around them. "It's eight thirty."

Cassandra and Kyle glanced around. The woman had said this in such a way it suggested that everyone knew what they were to do at this hour. The woman who sat with them whispered to them.

"No sounds unless you have to. If you need to use the rest rooms, bring someone with you."

It was basically lights out. Darkness was setting and the animals' hunting hours were drawing near. Cassandra sat and watched the officers, too frightened to think about sleeping, as many of the people in the group were beginning to settle down to do.

Throughout the night the guards, both military and civilian paced around, quietly listening for any sounds of movement from the depths below. It seemed they had their routine down to a science, as every so often one officer would radio to another squadron somewhere else in the building. After many long tense hours, Cassandra shut her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

"Hey, Cassy, wake up." Kyle was softly shaking her shoulder.

"Huh, what?"

"Breakfast, time to eat." He said to her with a smile.

She opened her eyes and looked around. The large group was getting up for breakfast which consisted of very much the same foods that dinner did. She was not hungry so she sipped slowly on a drink but did not take a plate of food.

"Did anything happen last night?" She asked aloud to anyone who had an answer.

"Around three," one man responded, "the things took off to the North and East out from under the building. I don't know, maybe they've figured out that they can't get us."

"Oh, how do they know which way they went?" Kyle asked.

The man gestured to the building around him. "This place is secure. There's like fifty guys guarding it. And more are on their way."

"Hey! Hey! I've got a signal!" Someone shouted from the center of the room.

He had on the table in front of him a small television and a local network suddenly popped onto the screen.

"The news is back on!" Someone else said softly.

The group piled around the small television, many standing on chairs and tables to get a better view. Once again a reporter came on the screen.

He stated that he was broadcasting live from Brooklyn, where he had spent the last two days and nights in a library with a large group, attempting to broadcast, but the stations had been down. He admitted to not being sure how the news was getting through now, but he reported all the same.

He described with horrific detail, attacks from the giant creatures that had occurred over the last few nights. It was disturbing listening to his report, and oddly enough, although Cassandra herself had lived through very much the same thing it sounded so much more horrible listening to the rattled reporter tell his tale to all that could see and hear him. As he went on though, what he continued to describe was even more disturbing.

Where he was at, there was no one left. Those who were able had evacuated, and if they were lucky enough to escape to a safe area, the reporter hoped for their success.

However as his cameraman and he strolled over to the window on the second floor of the library, and the camera panned outside, the reporter questioned live on the air their own chances of survival. What came next was a sad and terrible plea for help that brought tears to many people's eyes.

The camera revealed a massive horde of the serpent beasts swarming the streets. They were crawling into homes, through cars, into buildings, searching, according to the reporter, for anyone alive that they could bring into the dark depths they claimed below the city.

The reporter admitted that no one in his group had any weapons, besides for a few makeshift hand held weapons like table legs and baseball bats. By the time the man had stopped talking, he had begun to sound like he was reporting his own funeral. Cassandra figured that he was.

The animals were just outside. With no way to defend themselves, it was only a matter of time before the group in the library, one hundred and fourteen according to the reporter, found themselves within the grasps of the satanic monsters. One by one, people came onto the camera, quickly and tearfully saying goodbye to their loved ones.

The group in the food court all fell silent. The military officers seemed anxious and rattled by the broadcast they had just witnessed as they silently wondered when their long since requested help would actually arrive.

The camera in the library continued to broadcast like a grisly reality show, but the group on the screen simply sat quietly, watching and waiting. When the screams of the inevitable starting shrieking through the small speaker in the tablet, a woman in the group, grabbed it and turned off the broadcast.

"We don't need to watch that. Let's see if anyone else has something to report."

No one made a sound. A sea of heads and eyes lowered to the ground while the woman scrolled through other viewing options and propped the tablet back up for all to see.

The President took to the podium in the empty room and issued his orders to the American people, commanding that those that were in hiding to simply await assistance, assuring his viewers that help was indeed on the way.

He talked for quite a while about the many cities throughout most of the middle of the country that were now being overloaded with evacuees from the affected Southern, and Western and Eastern seaboard areas.

He explained how those that had fled their homes would be dealt with in the cities both large and small that could not handle the millions of additional residents.

Not a word was mentioned about the success of the attempted bombing of the hive that had been located in Southern California. There was no mention of any military effort to find any other hives and attempt to destroy them, nor was there enough attention given to those that were indeed in hiding, a fact that rattled the group listening.

"What is really going on?" One spoke up after the President was finished.

"Are they really coming for us?" Another questioned to no one in particular.

"No..." one disgruntled man said sharply from the opposite end of the court. "They're not coming for us, they can't. They're outnumbered, the roads are jammed up, people are dying everywhere. Their guns aren't powerful enough to stop all of these damned things and with every person they take, they add one more and we lose one."

"Oh stop, you're cheering us up too much," someone else called out.

"No, he's right," another interjected. "We have to at least consider the fact that they can't get to us."

"They are coming," one of the officers shouted. "Now that's enough. They have their hands full, that is true, but they are coming."

"We'll be okay here," another officer added. "We have food, we have weapons..."

"There's over two hundred people here," the negative man added in again. "Food's gonna run out soon unless there's a delivery coming that we don't know about. Your guns will run out of ammo, how much extra do you have?"

Cassandra glanced to the officers, whose looks on their faces gave away the answer. Suddenly she began to feel that she was part of a lost cause.

"Great." The man whispered.

"Well, we have better chances here than other places. At least here, we're in a group. If we were still in our homes we'd be at a higher chance of getting taken away." One woman said.

"Yeah well, I've got news for ya' lady, with no weapons to kill those suckers, I don't think it's gonna matter that we're in a big group. I don't think they're scared of crowds."

"Alright!" One officer shouted harshly and stomped towards the man who was sitting along the wall. He reached down and tore the man to his feet by the collar of his shirt. "That's enough! We're doing the best we can! If you want to go on it alone, go I won't stop you! Otherwise keep your mouth shut!"

Several other officers zoomed in to separate the two men. Both men fell quiet, and a lull fell over the group, each considering both sides of the story. Each man was right. The group did not stand a chance with no weapons, but at the same time it did feel better to be in a group than alone huddled in a house that didn't feel like home anymore, surrounded by dead bodies.

Hours passed slowly in the subsequent quiet. There was nothing to do, no way to occupy your time, other than trying to come with a fall back plan.

Some of the group muttered about leaving the Authority building and heading off to a more secure location, while others ridiculed that idea for how unsafe it was, but could not offer any other suggestion. Others in the group thought it might be a good idea to try to find guns.

The thought of heading out to arm up and gather needed supplies from relatively close areas came up and was tossed around the group. Someone took out a pen and started making a list of needed supplies and possible places to find them along with the distances to each destination.

Others mentioned the need to find a way to block up the entrances into the terminal, both from the outside streets but mostly and more importantly from the subway terminals below. Having something, anything in place would be better than having men standing in the darkness keeping a watch for the creatures that hunted them.

Many officers joined in on the plans, all brainstorming their ideas and by the time the late evening had arrived, the group had a fairly complete plan of who would go where and get what, who would stay behind, and when it would be done.

"It's too late now, we'll never make it in time. We have to go in the morning."

Those that had volunteered for the run nodded their heads in agreement. There were ten groups of ten. Each group would be led by two armed chaperones. The civilians and officers that had weapons were distributed amongst each group to try to keep the weapon numbers even.

Cassandra and Kyle volunteered for a group and were assigned to one of the three food supply groups. There were many delis and shops very close to the Authority, so there was a high chance of success. Other groups, geared towards weapons supply had a harder time ahead of them.

There were gun shops, and even rifles out of sporting good stores, but those places were rather far away and the group agreed to find vehicles and drive to them as best they could through the streets whenever possible. Other groups were assigned the tasks of finding clothing, medicines, and first aide supplies.

Those that remained in the Authority were to help with the barricading. Once the other subjects and plans were discussed, all that remained was trying to decide the best way to help at least partially block the entrances as best they could.

"We need bricks and mortar," someone who looked very much liked a construction worker said.

"Well, we can't get that," another added, "but... we've got to block up those entrances. We need to make this place secure as possible to have the best chance. If those things decide to get inside, maybe we can at least slow them down and give our bullets a chance to work."

Many suggestions were tossed around, everything from piling crates in the entrances to tearing off doors from the other buildings around them and using them for barricades. Cassandra paced around listening to the groups' discussions. She glanced from time down to the lobby and evaluated the doors they were planning on blocking. Suddenly it occurred to her and she turned to the group.

"What about the cars?"

The discussions stopped and they turned to Cassandra, who paused for a moment, then glanced back outside and started again.

"We can get the cars through those double doors. If we at least use them at the entrances up from the subway, it could help. We can use them to block the outside doors too."

"And we could tear out the car seats to fill in the gaps," someone suggested.

"We can siphon the gas out of them, and use it for defense."

Another plan was created and the group, somewhat excited about the prospects of making their shelter more secure discussed every minutia of it. Suddenly any enthusiasm the group shared dwindled away as someone flicked the tablet back to the news channel that was still sending its library camera broadcast.

The squealing of the black monsters could be heard through the tiny speakers and they echoed loudly through the ears of those that piled around to watch. There was no human activity.

Through the dead silence, only the shrieks of the black monsters echoed, combined with shuffling and scratching sounds out of the eye of the camera, doubtless coming from people being dragged off, still alive.

"Jesus," someone in the group whispered. "They're all dead."

"No, they're not." Cassandra said with certainty.

"Not yet, but they will be," Kyle added.

"How do you know?" A shocked woman in the crowd asked.

"We've seen it already. Too many times," Kyle replied.

"Oh," the woman said with a soft tone.

"They take you alive, they need you alive. To breed. To impregnate you or whatever. Then you die." Cassandra said morbidly.

A quick glare from Kyle made her fall silent. She stalked away from the group and collapsed along the wall next to the questionably sane woman.

"Maybe...maybe we should get those cars now." Someone in the group suggested.

The masses agreed and dozens of people took off down the escalator and out into the streets. Many of the vehicles had just been abandoned during the initial panic from the first attack, so it was not difficult to find vehicles with keys still dangling from their ignitions, and gas in their tanks.

In a well-coordinated effort, a stream of cars filed into the building, blocking up part of the two subway entrances, and the remaining vehicles were parked in front of all but one door to the building from the streets outside. Even the entrances out into the parking garage were partially blocked up with vehicles.

All the doors were glass, and the cars only blocked off less than half of them, but it was better than nothing. The effort also gave the people inside a chance to focus on something other than their own impending deaths, or the news broadcasts of other peoples' deaths. It offered a moment of hope and a chance to lengthen their survival until any help could arrive.

It took almost till night fall to finish ripping out the seats of many of the vehicles in order to strap them up the cars' roofs in an attempt to fill in some of the spaces, just to try to slow down the anticipated hordes of attacking monsters.

"Eight thirty everybody," an officer called out and the group fell quiet and sat down, all watching with anticipation.

It seemed no one was able to sleep at all. Close to ten o'clock, the hisses and shrieks of the evil black monsters filled the night air. The large group of officers shifted their weapons and craned their necks to see what they could.

As they crawled out of the three sided food court area and into the open space between the escalators, the officers clicked off their flashlights and fell silent as their eyes settled on the streets outside the glass doors.

"Oh God," one officer whispered so softly.

Several people tried to creep forward to see what the men were looking at, but they were held back by the officers holding their hands up to them, indicating for them to stop their advance. No one spoke. Cassandra slid slowly against the wall, little by little.

She peered around the edge of the corner and allowed her eyes to focus onto the streets outside.

Under the lights from the street lamps and between the windows of the vehicles now parked along the doors inside and outside the Authority, she could clearly make out the outlines of many black creatures stalking the sidewalks on all four legs, their long, spiked tails following behind the sadistic animals.

Very slowly, the officers began to creep forward, keeping their weapons trained on the creatures outside. There was even more movement outside than just the black monsters of the dark.

Cassandra squinted her eyes to try to make out what she was seeing and her jaw dropped in horror when she realized what it was that she saw.

Hundreds and hundreds, perhaps more in number than the black monsters themselves, of the spider like 'face huggers' crawled along the ground, weaving in and out of the legs of their larger brothers.

"Oh my God, they're hunting us down," someone in the crowd whispered.

"No," another fear struck person whispered, "they're taking over."

"Shh," another person scowled harshly.

Some of the officers kept guarding eyes on the other end of the terminal, where they could hear the scratching sounds of the creatures' claws striking the ground as they walked the subway terminals directly below.

A gentle soft clattering noise filled the ears of the people in the group and they started to look around for the source of the noise. It was not coming from outside, nor was it near the escalators.

The children, huddled together in the back end of the food court, furthest away from the glass doors for safety, shouted out high pitched frightened shrieks and everyone turned.

One of the children thudded backwards and hit the ground, one of the spidery monsters attached firmly to his head. Several women screamed hysterically and attempted to lunge forward for the fallen boy while the other children ran away from him.

One woman who tried to get the fallen boy stopped screaming suddenly as she, too, dropped to the ground. The thing that was now attached to her face had leapt over the counter top and landed perfectly square onto her skull, secured itself into place with its tail and gagged the woman with its protrusion into her throat.

Officers filed towards the counter tops and opened fire, trying hard to shoot the fast moving little monsters as the group fell back, screaming.

Attracted by the noises from within, the large monsters that had been skulking by in their massive numbers turned and lunged for the doors. They easily broke the glass and clambered over the vehicles and the makeshift blockades while the officers opened fire as the panicked group huddled in the center between two lines of intense shooting.

The gunfire was nearly deafening. Cassandra and many others threw their hands up to their ears as they huddled together unable to defend themselves.

From behind the group, where some officers shot at the crab like egg hatchlings, one of the men shot into one of the fast food shops and ignited an oven. An intense fire quickly consumed the shop and the squealing face huggers retreated.

One seemed to burn slightly as it got in the initial flames, its acid blood burned through the counter top it was on before it disappeared onto the floor behind the counter.

The face hugging hatchlings caught in the flames sizzled as the floor below them melted. Someone grabbed a canister of gasoline and threw it into the fire in a panic, despite half a dozen people around him trying hard to stop him. The kitchen area erupted, forcing the group away, towards the horde of the serpents.

The animals pressed in, outnumber the humans, and nearly unaffected by the constant stream of weapon fire. Gun shots echoed out from behind Cassandra, but they were not directed at the swarm of ever approaching animals.

Cassandra turned to see one woman, stone cold in her expression, shoot and kill three children that cowered and cried nearby. Cassandra screamed and spun around as the woman turned the gun towards her.

"NO!" She ducked out of the line of fire, and grabbed at the woman's ankles.

Kyle noticed what was happening and lunged forward, tacking the woman's weapon and the gun went off two more times. Kyle leapt back, grazed by the bullet in his arm, and pulled Cassandra away as two more men ran over. Before they were able to disarm the panic stricken woman, she turned the gun to herself and squeezed the trigger.

"Jesus," one man muttered.

Cassandra broke down in tears. Kyle leapt to his feet, following in the footsteps of several men he noticed who were grabbing chair legs, wrapping them in clothing, and lighting them in the burning fire.

They turned towards the animals, shoving flaming torches towards the creatures while others set up a flaming perimeter to help slow the approach of the skittering facehuggers.

Slowly, it seemed as though the battle was coming to a close, after nearly the entire night. The few hold outs still in the food court were surrounded by two, still flaming perimeters and a dozen armed guards served as the only other defense against the sea of creatures that had attacked.

The sting of burning acid burned their eyes, and the flames and smoke choked the surviving group, but they had made it through the night. Cassandra shook with fear, exhaustion, shock, and disbelief. She still clung to a now burnt out torch, her tight grip around it making her knuckles white.

It wasn't until morning when attention was turned to the living hosts that were being parasitized by the face huggers.

Once the animals had stopped their attack, heads turned towards those trying desperately to get the long tailed spidery animals off the faces of the two people they had attacked.

"You can't remove them," someone shouted.

"We'll see about that!" Another man said loudly.

He tried hard to pull the thing off the face of the child it seemed to be smothering. Many members of the group sobbed hysterically, certain that the young boy was dead. Several women hustled the remaining children away from the ghastly sight.

Three men argued with each other as they tried to pull the animal off the boy's face. They attempted the same tactics on the woman, whose husband was crying unstoppably as he cradled her limp body.

"Cut the god damned thing off, man!" Someone suggested from the crowd.

One man pulled a large knife out of his heavy boot and knelt over the child.

"Don't cut the boy," one officer whispered as he watched.

"I won't," the man said.

He took his knife and wasted no time. He quickly sliced at the animal's leg, just where it attached to the creature's body. The man howled wildly as he fell backward and dropped the knife. He clenched his hand tightly and cried aloud in agony.

The man's hand was bleeding, and the knife that had clattered to the ground was sizzling. Cassandra glanced down at it. The blade was dissolving. A strange smell filled the air.

"JESUS!" Someone yelled.

All eyes fell back to the boy. The animal had unlatched itself from the boy's head. A large puddle of blood was oozing along the floor. The animal, with all legs nearly intact clattered away, aiming directly at the first person it was nearest to. A police officer howled loudly as he raised his weapon.

"Clear!" he shouted and everyone jumped back.

He pulled the trigger and the spider animal stopped in its tracks, a hole burned into its body. The stench of acid overtook the group as they stared in silence at the carcass that was burning a large hole through the tiled floor. In a moment, the floor gave in completely around the creature and the remaining scraps of tile and concrete and metal, along with the tattered corpse fell through to the next floor.

Another person in the group yelled a blood curdling shriek of unimaginable pain, all eyes looked back at the hysterical woman who slumped back to the ground and fell over, unconscious. The group's eyes filtered over to the young boy next to the fainted woman.

"Oh my God, what did we do?" Someone whispered in shock as he stared at the boy.

The young child was missing a large chunk of his face and skull. Acid from where the man had tried to cut the creature's leg off had eaten through the boy's right eye, through his skull, and through the floor underneath as well.

As sickened hush fell over those that did not break down and cry or run off to vomit. The man holding his wife, still with the creature attached to her face sobbed even louder, certain that his wife would soon die.

"We were tryin' to help," someone whispered.

The woman who had passed out was carried off. When she had regained herself, her wild sobs filled the lobby. It was her son, the last thing that she had on the planet, that lie dead under sheets down the hallway in another room now.

The group lowered their heads in mourning. Cassandra's eyes filled with tears and she tucked her head into Kyle's shoulder. The husband swayed back and forth, clutching his wife, seeming oblivious to all around him.


	13. Chapter 12

**CHAPTER TWELVE**

When the dawn light began to shine through the windows of the Authority building, many members of the large group were already awake, warily staring into the streets outside, their wide eyes scanning for the slightest hint of movement.

The large group of civilians broke off into their assigned smaller groups, each led by two officers, and each team's lead reviewed the plan they had designed the night before.

Cassandra listened intently, but still a small part of her could not help but to feel, or wish, that it was all some kind of terrible dream.

She felt like she was in a football huddle, planning the next play, only the opposing team was comprised of eight foot tall, deadly acid blood creatures.

She noticed as she glanced down, that her hands were trembling. She swallowed and looked at Kyle. His dirty hair was slicked back and the look on his face was one of anger and uncertainty, but he, too, listened to the group commander's reiterating of the day's upcoming events.

Though no one mentioned it anymore, the words of the negative man still rang through many's ears. Cassandra wondered mostly, when the promised reinforcements and rescuers would arrive, if ever. No one seemed to really know.

Communication was sketchy at best, and the more she strained to listen to the military chatter, the more she realized no one seemed to have any idea what was going on.

She wondered what had happened, what kind of problems they had encountered, or if they were all dead. She wished they would come right away and sweep her away to a land where this horrible infestation was not happening.

Her mind began to drift to a place where these animals, or their destruction, did not exist. It was a hard image to pull into her mind and she found herself unable to as her eyes shifted around to the blood stained floors, bullet holes, and acid burns.

She focused once again on the group's leader as he had just finished his dry run of their plans. The members of the squad nodded their heads silently.

The group seemed ready; the plan was simple. Each group had a written list of the best places to get their assigned stocks. Each member was made aware of exactly how far their destinations were, and how quickly each was expected to travel.

The plan could easily work, in theory. For many, the outgoing trip would not be as difficult as the return trip. As with Cassandra's group, there would be many people carrying bags of foods, clothing, and medical supplies.

They would be hard pressed to make it back quickly carrying a load of supplies, so that was factored into consideration as well. Other teams were sent out to get much needed weapons. They would have an easier time getting back, since they would all be armed, Cassandra assumed.

The ideal result was that the groups that were headed out for weapons would find enough firearms and ammunition to give a weapon to every person in the group capable of pointing and firing at the nightmarish black monsters.

There was some concern about whether or not this would actually happen, but it was a far better idea to at least have some additional weaponry.

Perhaps the only problem with the whole plan, besides the taking to the unsafe streets unarmed, was simply the numbers. As the group conceived the plan last night and wrote down every little detail planning for a quick and flawless run, the one major point that came up ended up being a basic mathematical stumper.

Almost two hundred people of every age were piled into the building, each holding on to their dreams, their hopes, their lives. The attack last night had left many of them dead; not enough to fill out the nice, evenly grouped teams as anticipated, so instead of groups of ten, many groups headed out with just three.

Less people meant less consumption of precious supplies, but it also meant less likelihood of stocking up. No one seemed to be too concerned about the certain eventuality of starving while they were holding out with reducing amounts of ammunition against an ever increasing amount of deadly animals.

Cassandra glanced around to the other small groups huddled throughout the large lobby of the Authority. Though each person looked frightened, they were all obviously intent on giving themselves a chance at survival.

Cassandra noticed that the man who had in essence, caused the plan to be put into effect, did not volunteer for a position within any of the groups. He simply sat, sulking, against a far wall on the upstairs, glancing down the escalator ramps at the people below with a look of contempt on his face.

She thought she could see in his eyes each and every person's demise. She felt herself casting a sour stare at the man. If it was not for him, no one would even be going out into the streets, they would probably just waited for rescue.

It was his fault the group realized they were under-armed, under-ammoed, and under supplied with food for a long haul. She would be far more content to simply stay huddled up in the upstairs eating area, under a blanket, pretending none of this was really happening.

Then again, she would have much preferred to still be residing in her unbloodied new apartment, with her non dead friend, looking forward to their future of starting college the following month and escalating to the upper echelons of the fashion society.

Instead, she sat looking from a grumpy man staring woefully at the troops below him, to the blood filled, empty streets of the city that she loved, wondering if she would make it through the next few hours of her life.

As the groups fell silent and scanned the streets outside for movement, one of the officers leading a group closest to the doors slowly and bravely crept outside. Cassandra and all the others in the large open lobby looked toward him.

From his crouched position, he pushed the glass door open slowly, just enough that he could slip through. He slid outside and looked north, south, and east.

He stretched his neck to look over a car that had been driven up onto the sidewalk. After a moment of studying the street in one direction, he turned his head and weapon in the other.

It seemed to take forever before he strode out one or two steps away from the building and stared again up and down the street, all around him. He took a few more steps slowly and evaluated the building in which the group hid.

After a long tense moment he finally indicated with his hand that the location was secure. Without hesitation, the swarm of people filed out of the one working door in the building.

"Here we go," Kyle whispered to Cassandra as he took her hand and they headed out the door together.

She did not respond, but she felt herself break into a little smile as he slid his fingers between hers just a moment before the pair stepped out into the hot summer air.

Unbelievably, Cassandra and the rest of the people who took to the streets that morning, found them all oddly vacant. There was not even a hiss, nor a distant shriek.

Cassandra wondered if the animals were sleeping, perhaps hibernating, or perhaps they had run off to swarm somewhere else; attack a different group of hopeful survivors. With no interference, the groups were able to depart, stock up, and return without a problem.

Within five hours, every man and woman had returned to the terminal with much needed supplies. Those that remained behind cheered with glee as the first of the groups out headed back, and those cheers multiplied as each group returned and supplies were distributed out.

As expected, there were not enough weapons for every able person in the group, but the groups assigned to armory were able to bring handguns, rifles, even a few shotguns back. There was enough weaponry available to arm nearly sixty people with one gun. A new wave of confidence swept over the group as the weapons were handed out.

"Alright everybody, with a gun comes responsibility. If you arm yourself, you are automatically volunteering for guard duty, too." An officer said as he raised his hands into the air.

Kyle quickly volunteered himself, and filed into line with dozens of others. He returned to Cassandra at their spot next to the odd woman on the ground smiling widely as he carefully handled the gun in his palms.

"Be careful!" Cassandra said automatically.

"It's alright, I'll protect you."

She smiled gratefully at him and watched as the remainder of the weapons got divvied up amongst the men in the group.

As the hours ticked by, several people took to their daily ritual of cooking dinner for everyone in the group. Just before everyone ate their meals, one man stood up, a bottle of crystal clear drinking water in one hand, and a rifle in the other.

He presented a toast to the group. He spoke of this group's will to survive, the certain success they would achieve, and of course, hope for a quick rescue by the military vowed to be on their way.

Each person in the room held their glasses or bottles up high, and though not all of the drinking chalices would click together, the group made up for it with their cheers for each other, for everyone who set out to get supplies, and for the officers who bled to protect them.

The meal was over quickly and the group began to fall quiet. It was barely even dusk before the howling and shrieking of the black animals began to ring up through the streets once again. A hush fell over each and every person.

Massive black bodies began to flow through the streets outside. Every armed man stood along the second level balcony, watching the creatures appear in the blocks around the building. Tension was high, and everyone seemed to anticipate an attack, but the animals seemed to simply ignore the group. More than two dozen of the animals crept past the doors outside as the group held their breath.

"Jesus," one man said as he made eye contact with one of the monsters.

"Hold, people," an officer whispered as loud as he could. "Hold. Save your ammo. Don't shoot if you don't have to."

"We should kill them while we can," someone argued in a quick whisper.

"No!" The officer whispered back sharply. "There's too many of them."

One of the stopped and turned its head, although it was hard to tell if it was staring at anyone in particular. It hissed loudly as an inner set of jaws protruded from between the main mandibles on the animal's long sleek head. The sharp little teeth on the creature's second mouth snapped shut and returned inside the creature's mouth.

To the great relief of all, the animal turned and headed off with the rest of its swarm and disappeared through the streets. The group sighed a synchronized relief, although some of the trigger happy and newly armed men seemed a bit disappointed.

Sometime after the creatures had passed by, the husband of the woman with the face hugger still attached howled out with shock. All heads turned to the pair.

The creature had removed itself from her head and fell to the ground in a fetal-like position, dead. The woman opened her eyes as if she had awoken from the strangest dream one could imagine.

She was a little confused for a moment, but she stared into her husband's eyes and smiled at him. He smiled back at her, sobbed with gratitude, and held her so tightly it looked as though he might suffocate her himself.

The man looked at the group around him. While many of the people shared his joy that his wife was awake, sitting up, and complaining that she was hungry and had to pee, he looked at other members of the group that stared at him with a lost look on their faces.

Cassandra and others who knew what would happen next eyed the woman like the carrier of a deadly disease. She stared back at them and her smile faded from her face.

One officer came over to her and looked at her solemnly. Cassandra stared at her feet and watched her own tears hit the toes of her expensive shoes. The officer whispered to the woman and man and both dropped solemnly to the ground crying hysterically.

"No, no," the woman sobbed. "You don't understand, I feel fine. I'm perfectly fine…."

Cassandra turned away. She slid back down to the floor at her spot, feeling the weight of the loss of hope over take her once again.

The husband and wife spent the next several hours quietly talking through their teary eyes. Sometime nearing midnight, the woman began to cry out in pain and convulse. She howled in agony as her mouth filled with blood and her chest throbbed as the three foot long parasite under her ribs began its bloody route to the surface.

Cassandra put her hands over her ears, squeezed her eyes shut, trying hard to ignore the sickened screams from all around her. Someone fired a gun and even more screams filled the room. Cassandra looked up and saw the crazed husband of the now dead woman leaping towards the man who had pulled the trigger.

The animal that had halfway emerged from the woman's chest was slung over her breast, lifeless. The two men flew backward and slammed into one of the dining tables, knocking it to the ground and sending chairs clattering in all directions.

Several other men piled in trying to separate the two.

"She was dead anyway!" The man who fired the gun shouted while the husband cried for his wife and several people pulled them apart. "Shit! You crazy son of..."

"Hey!" Another person cut him off. "That was his wife, alright, now calm down."

The man grunted and patted ruffled clothes straight. He suddenly shot his eyes up and stared at the red faced husband.

"Where's my gun, man?"

Suddenly, the husband, who had been released when he submitted to those holding him, raised his hand. It seemed in all the chaos, everyone's eyes had been misdirected and the husband now stood pointing a gun directly between the eyes of the man who shot his wife.

No one moved. Cassandra held her breath and tried hard not to start sobbing.

"Come on, man. She was dead anyway. I killed the creature. You know it. It would have grown up to become another one of those...those things... come on, man, please." The man pleaded. "We're all on the same side!"

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" The angry husband howled, shaking the gun at him. "That was my wife, damn it. My wife! Oh God! You killed her! You had no right!"

His eyes filled with tears, his face had a look of anguish combined with rage. No one dared move toward him to get the gun that clattered in his trembling hand. Without another word, he turned the gun to his own head, pressing the barrel hard into the crevice between his eyebrows.

"No!" Someone pleaded from the crowd. "Don't do this!"

But the gun fired. It clanked to the ground at the same moment as the husband's bloody corpse, accompanied by the screams of the crowd around him. Cassandra dipped her head into her knees and sobbed.

The lobby remained silent for the rest of the night. From time to time a distant hiss or shriek filled the air from the black animals that prowled the streets, but the humans made no more noise.

They quietly collected the cadavers and deposited them into the room with the boy from the night before. Eventually the sobbing women fell asleep and the men, whether in mourning or shock or both clenched their jaws and watched the night streets.

If there were any animals nearby, they took no interest in the happenings of the group. They showed no concern for their own barely born dead, and they offered no attempt to surge into the building and attack.

Not another bullet was fired that night or the following day. The animals beyond the glass doors and windows to the terminal building were claiming the streets outside. In the very early morning hours a large group of the animals could be seen passing the building, each one carrying an apparently paralyzed human body with them.

The humans inside the building simply watched in horror as the creatures walked by. Knowing it would be suicide to try to attack the animals to save the people they carried, no one attempted to even point a gun in the creature's directions.

That day passed silently. There was little to do but wait for a rescue they all hoped would come.

As one day turned to two, it seemed the silence and the wait would ultimately destroy more people than the animals.

Cassandra slipped her fingers through her filthy hair, taking a moment to think back to the last time she even had a shower.

She watched the people in the group all around her slowly fade to insanity. Four people took their own lives in the early morning hours that day, silently slicing their wrists with broken glass, like they had made a pact.

Cassandra noticed how small cliques formed in whispered silence. Stronger minded people merged together and whispered about leaving and surviving.

Women gathered together to cook up nearly all the food supplies in just a few short days, like they were in a community kitchen.

Eight children played together in morbid silence. Other small groups mingled together whispering prayers, stories, and their own experienced with the war thus far; whatever it took to keep their minds occupied.

The military officers mingled together in their own group and Cassandra and Kyle joined another, younger group that said very little to one another.

As the early evening hours approached and the group dined quietly over their meal, several people did not join the community meal, they simply sat and stared into nothingness.

Cassandra watched a small group of those that refused breakfast, lunch, and now dinner too. She chewed slowly on a piece of chicken and contemplated those that watched the rest eat. Surely after not eating all day, they must be hungry.

She thought that perhaps they were just giving up, too, in their own way – too afraid to slice their wrists, but also too afraid to face another night of the horrible monsters.

The vocalizations of the animals outside began again while the sun was still hovering just above the horizon, far beyond any of the skyscrapers in the City. The group fell quiet and huddled in fear as the animals made their presence known.

Again, the animal horde passed them up without so much as a glance towards them. The waiting was certainly going to make everyone insane, there was no doubt.

"Why do they ignore us?"

"Are they afraid of the fire?"

"Maybe they don't sense us, or they don't see us."

"Are they like bats? If we stay silent, they're blind?"

The whispers continued on for what seemed like hours. Cassandra kept silent, but listened to everyone. It was in the early hours of the morning that those in the group that had found a moment to sleep were woken up to the sounds of gunfire.

The animals were back, and were attacking. People were screaming and within an instant, complete chaos emerged. Why the animals hadn't attacked them before, or sooner, no one knew, and no one bothered to concern themselves with such things as the animals shattered the glass windows and flooded into the lower lobby.

They barreled through the humans like locusts. They killed with ease while those that were armed emptied their cartridges and could barely reload fast enough to make a kill.

As acid sprayed in all directions, anyone not subdued by one of the monsters, was maimed or killed by the burning blood. Military officers shot off a covering spray of fire and bullets to give frantic civilians a little extra time to escape.

The animals clawed and bit the humans that desperately shot at the creatures, and others used their long barbed tails to pierce the bodies of the shooting men. They would whip their tails from side to side and send the corpse of their victims flying through the air like useless rags.

"Oh shit!" Kyle yelled to Cassandra and anyone else that would listen, as a body was tossed over his head, nearly hitting him.

"Let's get outta' here!" He shouted.

He grabbed Cassandra's hand and they darted over a counter top following in the tracks of others who had just fled, they were quickly followed by many more. They bolted through the back door of the food court and tore through the back hallways until they found an exit at a loading bay.

Frightened, nearly out of weapons, and fleeing certain death, the small group managed to pour out of the building into the streets.

They found no freedom in the abandoned city streets, however. The creatures appeared to have overtaken the city. One of the creatures, on the roof of the building from which the crowd had just emerged shrieked out what could have only been an alarm, for more animals began to suddenly appear out of nowhere.

"Oh Jesus! Cassy hold on!" Kyle stopped and fired his weapon. "Come on!"

He fired the gun until it was empty, but it seemed to do no good. The small handgun barely seemed able to penetrate through the thick outer shells of the creatures' shiny black hides.

Someone fired a weapon from behind Cassandra's head, so close the sound reverberated through her ear drum and made her head pound. She screamed and dropped to the ground, yanking Kyle halfway down. He yelled at the man who had nearly shot Cassandra in the head as he dragged her back to her feet.

She shook her head, trying to restore her hearing and focus her vision. After moment she found herself bolting away with Kyle, and surrounded by an ever dwindling group of people. Suddenly, someone in the group pulled to a halt and shouted.

"Wait!" The man called. "Do you hear that?"

The rest of the group stopped sharply and gritted their teeth together. A very loud sound filled the air. The animals seemed to hear it too, for they stopped their immediate attack, lifted their heads in the direction of the sounds, shrieked loudly to one another and bolted off in the direction of the noise.

"That's a horn! And gunfire!" One man shouted.

"Come on!" Kyle yelled and darted off with Cassandra.

They too, headed in the direction of the sounds. The echoes through the empty streets made the exact location of the source of the sound a little hard to figure out, but the group ran all out, following the direction in which some of the fearless black monsters headed off. They rounded a corner and came out onto an adjacent street.

The group pulled to a halt again and took a moment to allow their eyes to grow wide. They howled and cheered in celebration.

A large caravan of heavily armed and armored transport vehicles was slowly parading through the street, pushing away abandoned cars that blocked their paths and running over the alien animals as they went.

Each vehicle was equipped with a large machine gun, operated by one solider. Next to him crouched one other soldier who was keeping a careful eye on the buildings all around the vehicles and at each end of the truck, stood one officer holding heavy weapons in their hands.

The massive gun on the top of the vehicle chewed through the hides of the horrible animals with great ease and sent a rainstorm of acid pouring into the streets.

From within the vehicles more civilians howled in joy each time an animal was shredded. Officers standing in the open back door of the massive vehicles quickly ushered Kyle and Cassandra's group inside. They jumped into the back of one of the twelve vehicles.

The massive armored transports rolled slowly through the streets and a huge rush of relief filled Cassandra's heart. She sat on the floor of the crowded vehicle as the gun whirred above her head. The sound was sweeter to her ears than that of morning birds chirping on a gentle summer's day.

The thrilled yells of rescued people was more uplifting than a song of praise itself. She shut her eyes and listened for a moment to the happy sounds around her and felt a pair of arms encircle her. She opened her eyes and glanced at Kyle holding her tightly. She wrapped her arms around him in return.

The caravan honked it horns non-stop as the vehicles navigated the streets. While the sounds attracted the attention of any people in hiding, it did also drew in hordes of the massive black animals. However, any of the creatures that were not obliterated by the heavy gun emplacements were quickly killed by the small army of armed officers that escorted the main weapons, or they were just smashed under the power of the vehicle.

Each time the door opened up in the back of the vehicle and an armed officer riding in the back would hold their hand out, those inside clapped and howled as survivors, some in singles or pairs, others in large groups, jumped inside. The vehicles continued on their rescue mission, traveling single through the Manhattan streets.

The loud crunching sounds that happened every few seconds told Cassandra that another empty car was getting shoved aside. The vehicle felt it had tracked for hours.

She lost track of time inside the hot cramped space. The guns that were mounted to the tops of the twelve transport vehicles never stopped firing the entire time.

Cassandra listened quietly for a long while, hoping that each and every one of the horrible animals were being shot to death and that her life would return to normal soon. Eventually a man stuck his head into the back of the truck from the armored cab.

"Hi folks! How the hell are ya!" He howled with a smile on his face.

The back of the vehicle lit up like a rock concert on steroids. The sounds of the gratified people that had been rescued resonated through the streets. It was a proud, but deafening noise. Cassandra cheered with the rest. A smile crossing her lips for the first time in days.

"OK, here's the drill, we're headed to a safety zone, we're gonna get you people outta here, okay? We're moving slow right now, but soon as we get on the highway, we're gonna' go quicker. Sound good?"

The man's voice was happy and excited. He managed to uplift the large cramped group in the back of his truck. The passengers howled approvingly.

"You're gonna be safe." He said softly.

The group cheered again.

Cassandra and the person in the front passenger seat locked eyes on each other for a moment. Her lips formed the words 'thank you' and the young, close shaven, dark haired man smiled and nodded before he faced front again.

The vehicle did just what the officer had announced it would. The gun on the roof continued to fire until the caravan had reached the city limits and took to the highway.

Cassandra and most of the others huddled in the vehicle fell silent as the caravan sped along the roadways. Soon she shut her eyes and caught up on some missing rest.

When the caravan came to a stop eventually, Cassandra was prodded awake by Kyle and the sounds of people filing off of the massive armored vehicles. She floated with the group out of the shelter of the caravan and out into a parking area, barely paying attention to being frisked and scanned for both weapons and signs of impregnation. Weapons were confiscated but everyone was allowed through, all deemed healthy and free of contamination.

They were directed towards a large building heavily guarded with armed soldiers. The massive parking lot to the building, and the long, only slightly overgrown fields beyond provided a large visual perimeter to the guards that patrolled the rooftop.

The sun was shining brightly, a gentle breeze was blowing just enough to whisk litter and papers and empty Styrofoam cups through the parking lot, past a few semi-trucks and trailers, cars, and military vehicles. Just beyond a barricade of trucks, Cassandra could see the glistening reflection of the ebony hides of a pile of the dead animals. The parking area smelled of blood and sulfur.

Cassandra caught the eye again of the passenger from the front of the vehicle she had been in. He walked around to the back of the vehicle to help the people out, informing them that there was plenty of provisions and medical attention inside.

"Excuse me," she said to the officer.

He glanced at her and smiled softly. "Yes?"

"Where are we?" She asked.

He raised his eyebrows and tipped his head and sighed. "Well, it's nowhere fancy, but it's far enough away. You're in a little town called Halfway, Pennsylvania."

She smiled and nodded as another officer grabbed the man's attention away from her. She turned and headed into the building with Kyle and the rest of the group.

They entered through a double set of double steel doors under a little sign that informed them that this was the West Entrance.

When she stepped inside Cassandra realized that it was no military installation. It was a giant industrial warehouse.

Coming from the big city where every building was so closely knit on top of each other, she was used to smaller, taller, cramped buildings. The warehouse was enormous. She had never been in a building so big. The officer was correct about tons of provisions.

There were giant truckloads of food, huge refrigerated units with everything from milk and meat to even ice cream, enough to supply a months' worth of good eating to the thousands of people that made the place into their temporary home.

She walked into the vast open space, past a series of hallways and her jaw dropped. She must have become accustomed to the group of people she had been sheltered with in New York City over the last week.

At first glance when she saw two hundred people making the most out of the food court in the Port Authority terminal building, she thought it was the most unbelievable sight imaginable.

However, now, she stared across the floor of a massive industrial building and was certain this was the end all of incredible sights.

She suddenly felt like a refugee during a World War. The place was absolutely packed with people, on two levels. Families, children, elderly, men and women of all ages filled the massive open space. Bed sheets hung up on clothes line, with "house numbers" spray painted on them, and cardboard signs gave names to the "streets" between the rows upon rows of makeshift accommodations.

Other, larger areas of the floor were covered in blankets and pillows and personal belongings, set up like a giant camp. There were even animals, pets of the families that they could not abandon when they were forced to leave their homes.

The building was as homelike as possible, with extension cords running every which way through the sea of curtained off 'homes', to provide power to medical equipment, lights, and even microwaves.

The second level, though nowhere near as large as the first floor was also bustling with people. Offices that overlooked the main floor had their windows covered with sheets or newspaper for some privacy, but many of the residents on the upper level mingled with other evacuees outside their private rooms.

The place was not solemn, Cassandra quickly noted; the people in the building were not waiting on death to come swiftly. To her, most of them seemed content; happy.

She wasn't sure if that was comforting or disturbing at first, but it was still good to see people laughing, mingling with drinks in their hands, children running and playing, and music soaring through the air like they were all at some kind of huge city-wide party.

There was one area in the back of the main floor that had a huge hand spray painted sign on it that read 'hospital' in large bright red letters.

Another, more colorful sign equally as talentedly painted was hung up over another that read 'school' in colors of bright yellow and orange and blue.

Some of the people were mingling together with glasses in hand like they were at cocktail hour in their favorite local tavern, while others seemed to stay alone, huddled back against the farthest walls they could find and clung to their possessions.

One man stared at his laptop computer and was apparently having a detailed business conversation with himself, other people were reading books, and row after row of "homes" echoed with voices and music and laughter.

Another woman kept herself far away from most of the group and stroked a blood covered pastel pink quilt in her hands.

"Wow, this is unreal," Cassandra whispered.

"Yea it is," Kyle responded.

"It's secure though," another voice added.

They turned around and Cassandra looked at the officer that had helped escort them all to this strangest of hideouts in the middle of nowhere, halfway between civilization and the war zone outside.

"I didn't get your name," Cassandra smiled softly.

"Lewis Sans, Corporal Sans...Lewis, uhh...Lewis." He finally said with a crooked smile.

"Nice to meet you. Thank you. I'm Cassandra Reynolds, and this is Kyle Nolan"

The trio shook hands and Sans extended his arm to direct them around the main floor. As they drifted towards the hospital, a man in a clean white long lab coat eagerly rushed out to greet Sans. Cassandra saw the embroidery on the man's coat that read 'Dr. Murray' as he and Sans shook hands happily.

"Wow! I'm so glad... what took you so long?" He switched from relief to hassling his friend.

Sans stared at the ground, but smiled just the same as he patted his friend on the arm while Murray gripped his shoulder.

"Got held up."

Sans introduced Cassandra and Kyle to his friend.

"I've seen you on the news! You're that doctor from Philadelphia, right?" Cassandra said.

"Yes," the doctor replied quickly as his face grew slightly pale.

"Uhh..." Lewis interrupted. "Well, if you need anything, I'll be over there." He pointed off in the direction of a group of military. "But you guys make yourselves at home here, okay?"

Cassandra smiled and she and Kyle excused themselves to find an area to make a nest.

"Hey, psst," Kyle whispered to Cassandra to get her attention once they had claimed a spot. Cassandra followed his glance down and noticed Kyle was holding the end of what appeared to be a large knife.

"How did you sneak…"

"Shh!" He stopped her and she lowered her voice even more, casting a glance around to make

sure no one heard her.

"If they catch you with that…."

"What are they gonna' do? Put me in a bed sheet jail? Or cast me outside, feed me to those animals."

She smacked him lightly. "That's not funny."

He shot her a smug look and wrapped an arm around her. "It's for protection. It's fine."

"Let's go get something to eat, I'm starving." Cassandra said, changing the subject and jumping to her feet.

It did not take long for the pair to relax into the hideout. They felt safe and secure, surrounded by heavy weapons and soldiers from almost every branch of the military. The massive industrial building was not quite home, but it would do.

Cassandra and Kyle wandered the common area for a long while, acquainting themselves with the locations of everything they might need. They filled up on some food and found restrooms and showers at the east end of the main area, down a short corridor.

Cassandra was overwhelmed with joy when she stepped into the shower and let the warm water trickle down her face so pleasantly. Her body relaxed and she lathered up with a flowery scented body wash that had been provided for the ladies' room.

It had been close to a week since she had felt shower water. She didn't even realize how much she missed showering. Part of her had simply become accustomed to hand washing with towels at the sink of the public restroom in the terminal in which she had been hiding.

But as the water ran down her face and over her body, she shut her eyes and smiled gently, hoping that this feeling would never go away.


	14. Chapter 13

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN**

Time passed easily behind the concrete and steel walls of the shelter.

Although there was no communication, no telephone, no television, and no leaving the building, people still mostly remained optimistic.

The information that was given to the group was updated daily, always reassuring that the situation was being handled, and the lingering promise that all would return home 'soon' kept some optimistic; others uncertain.

Cassandra and Kyle made their own little corner into home after a day or two. They did not put up curtains for privacy, but they would explore the entire building, and were chased out of many off limit areas many times.

"You know," Kyle started as they walked down a fairly empty hallway towards a double set of doors they had not been to before. Cassandra assumed the doors led to a stock room, or a loading bay possibly.

"We could definitely be here a while. This could be home. Maybe for months."

"There is no way we are going be living here for _months_ Kyle. They said this will all be over soon. They're killing the animals."

Kyle rolled his eyes and sneered. "Whatever. That's what they tell us anyway."

"Shh!" Cassandra interrupted and spied the doors before them. "Did you hear that?"

They both listened, but heard nothing.

"Let's check it out," Kyle said in a curious whisper.

He edged the door open slightly and stuck his head through, peering around before he entered the space ahead of him and waved Cassandra in behind him.

The doorways led into another smaller warehouse, which was dark. Another set of double doors lingered on the back wall and Kyle quickly inspected it, seeing rows and rows of trailers backed into loading bay doors and military officers patrolling.

"What's back there?" Cassandra whispered, sure they weren't supposed to be where they were.

"Loading bay. Lots of military. I see a bunch of weapons. I think they're empty."

Cassandra pressed her face to the window and watched. There was a large pile of rifles strewn into a corner, far beyond the doorway, past boxes and containers and shipping crates and skid loaders.

No one seemed to really care about them. Cassandra's gut suddenly felt heavy with the thought that all those guns lay empty.

She turned her head sideways and eyed a single door on the adjacent wall, with a set of stairs just visible beyond the window.

"What's up there?"

Kyle smiled sideways at her and grabbed her arm.

They headed up the stairs quickly, but quietly and found themselves in an empty office, strewn with papers on the walls and desk; the comings and goings of the trucks for the facility.

A pile of bedsheets sat in the corner and a single candle lit the room. Cassandra's eyes glazed past the logistics schedules and sticky notes, passed the bed sheets, and her eyes set on a map on the desk, with red circles with X's through them over New York City, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., and Charlotte that she could see.

She reached her hand forward to pull off some papers off the rest of the map.

"Do you see this? Who's is this? What does this mean?" Cassandra eyed Kyle, who was inches away from her face.

He seemed uninterested. He grasped her firmly with his hands and turned her slightly towards him. He pushed her softly backwards, backing her up to the wall of the office while he kept a tight clutch on her arms.

"No, Kyle, I don't think we sh…" she whispered.

"Come on Cassy," he held her tighter, pressing his body firmly into hers, kissing his way down her neck as his hands wrapped around her and up the back of her shirt to her bra.

"Think about all we've been through already. We need this." He said softly between kisses. "You don't want to be a virgin forever, do you?"

"Kyle, stop. I can't do this." She spoke firmly and pushed him away, shaking her head, staring at her feet.

He sighed forcefully, annoyed.

"Whatever. See ya downstairs."

He stormed off and reach for the door right as it opened from the outside and two military officers squared off with him. Cassandra and Kyle both jumped.

"What the hell are you kids doing in here?"

"Uhhh…" Kyle stammered. "We were just…."

The bristle faced officer glared at them.

"Leaving, we were just leaving!" Cassandra said quickly, darting for the door around both Kyle and the officer.

She thundered down the stairs without waiting for Kyle, and headed back to the common areas as Kyle called for her from behind.

"Wait, Ok, just wait…" He said as he jogged up to her and grabbed her by the arm again.

"Come on, Cassy. What's wrong with you? I didn't do anything!"

She turned and glared at him in silence with a gaze just as capable of burning a hole as the acid blood of the alien animals.

"Just…. Just don't…. OK." Cassandra squealed, stammering. "I'm not…"

"Everything OK here?" A voice said abruptly from a short distance away.

Cassandra turned to see Lewis Sans standing before her and smiled with relief. Lewis gripped his rifle firmly while eyeing down Kyle warily.

Kyle shook his head slowly and clucked his lips. "Nah, man. All good here."

Cassandra used the awkward silence of the moment as an opportunity to completely change subjects. The map with the red circles flickered into her mind.

"Hey, uh, Lewis, do you have any news about what's going on out there?"

He looked thoughtfully at her for a moment and glanced around to check his surroundings. Kyle stalked away and Lewis tipped his head for Cassandra to follow away from the main common areas

"They're trying hard to get things under control." He said with certainty. "On one hand I wish I was out there, because I want to kill those bastards for all they've done..." his voice trailed off for a moment, but he looked back at her.

"But I'm glad I'm here, too, you know?" He smiled.

Cassandra formed a half of a smile. "Are we going home soon?"

The look in his eyes answered her question. He sighed deeply.

"I don't know much, but I can tell you that from what I hear those things are ruling the roost out there. Look, don't tell anybody I told you, okay, but I want you to know."

"Oh God," Cassandra whispered as she dipped her head down and stared at her feet.

"Don't... it'll be okay."

Tears started to flow from her eyes. "How safe are we here?"

"Pretty darned safe, really. Nothing's getting through here."

Cassandra shook her head quickly, "But I saw loads of empty weapons. Are they running out of ammo?"

Lewis seemed to halfway want to run away and evade the question all together, but he fell silent for a moment and glanced around to make sure no one could over hear.

"We still have plenty of weapons. We'll be fine."

Cassandra wasn't sure if Lewis really believed what he was saying, but he seemed sincere.

"Do you know what they're doing to kill them out there?"

Sans shook his head quickly. "I've heard things, but I'm not in the loop. I just get told what to do."

"What have you heard?"

"Well, I've heard they've found hives in a dozen major cities, and around the world. They're supposed to be bombing cities once they've been cleared."

"Hives?"

"Yeah, don't you know?"

Cassandra frowned.

"I've been in one," Sans informed her and the two sat on the ground. "I was deployed to Philly. I was in this big damned hive under the city. It was unreal... It was horrible. The things they do to us..."

"I know. I've seen," Cassandra whispered solemnly.

"A hive?" Sans asked sounding shocked.

"Well... I don't know about a hive, but I've seen people die from these things. What's the hive all about?"

"Eggs, hundreds of them, and hundreds of those...bugs. That's what we call 'em. Bugs, they're like some kind of insect or … I don't know."

"Yeah, some insect." Cassandra said sarcastically. "Where are they bombing?"

"I don't know for sure," Sans shrugged wishing he sounded more important to Cassandra. "But I've heard they've dropped bombs on parts of... New York, Georgia, anywhere they've confirmed hives... massive breeding grounds."

"New York City?" Cassandra questioned.

Sans shrugged. "I think so."

He eyed the look on her face and tipped his head towards her. "Look, a lot of what I know is just rumors. I shouldn't even have said anything. Everyone's talking, but I really don't think anyone _really_ knows."

"Right," Cassandra nodded, trying hard to imagine that Lewis was wrong and misinformed, but it was a hard thing to believe.

"Are you from New York?"

"I was going to school there. I have an aunt and uncle and my cousin I was living with …my Mom and Dad are in Sacramento."

"Oh," Sans said plainly.

"What? What is it?"

"I don't about California at all," he said apologetically. "I'm sorry, Cassandra, I wish I knew more."

"Well, the phones still don't work right." Cassandra said quietly. "So what held you up?"

"What?" Sans questioned.

"You said you got held up getting here or something, to Dr. Murray..."

"Oh, yea... well... it's just that..." he stopped for a moment and thought back. "We met in Philly, I was deployed there with a bunch of troops to go into the hospital that got shut down... we knew there was something under the city, but we had no idea..." his voice tapered off again.

"Anyway, I met Carlos there, and when the city started to get mass evacuations, people just started going nuts, it was crazy. We got orders to come here, and get this place ready for mass evacuees.

So, Carlos came along we set this place up a bit and then I was deployed. Our orders were just to find survivors. We already tried the whole 'let's go find the ones underground and bring them back routine', and that didn't work out well at all.

So, we were sent out to help evacuate New York . Well, it's like a five hour drive normally from here. It took us two days to get there. We got attacked en route. We were tryin' to go through the cities to find people, but they just swarmed us. We held them off okay, but they got one entire vehicle. There were thousands of them, Cassy, thousands."

Cassandra stayed quiet and listened to his words. She couldn't help but think of the inevitable, with swarms that large of the deadly animals.

"Do you really think we're safe here, Lewis?"

He paused again, revealing his answer in the silence.

"Listen, you'll be safe. If you get worried about anything, just come find me." He smiled softly at her and pulled himself to his feet and helped her up.

"I better get going."

Cassandra felt more relaxed, but still concerned about what would happen next. She eventually headed back to her spot in the community complex and scanned the massive area for Kyle. She didn't see him, and felt somehow relieved by that. As night fell, Cassandra drifted off to sleep.

Sometime in the middle of the night the sounds of massive gunfire echoed through the wide open space. Most of the community was wide awake standing on pins and needles, staring all around, listening to the shrill voices that filled the night air and the whirring of large machine guns at all ends of the building firing non stop for over an hour.

The citizens simply stood in silence, staring at the walls, listening to the sounds of shouting, gunfire, and massive explosions beyond the walls. Cassandra wondered how thick the walls were, how secure they would be, or what would happen if the swarm beyond managed to get inside.

She glanced around at all the people around her. Some of them were dropped on their knees praying, while others held their hands up to their faces and held their breaths. Startled children and unsettled babies wailed out through the open complex.

The gun fire continued from machine guns and tanks. Loud explosions that could only be from grenades rang out every minute. Men shouted to one other from the outer corridors over the sounds of their handheld automatic weapons.

The wary group listened intently until the shooting finally came to a stop. Distant yells of soldiers through the corridors of the massive complex echoed around, their voices muffled and difficult to understand. Suddenly an over intercom squeaked itself into life and a loud voice filled the large room.

"Clear."

The community came alive with howls and cheers through smiling faces. Cassandra smiled as she looked around the room. She saw Kyle coming over to her with a look of relief on his face.

"Hey! Where were you?"

"Ah, nowhere," Kyle responded.

The remainder of the night was played out in silence. In the morning Cassandra found herself looking for Lewis, looking for news on what had happened. She listened to the people she passed by talking.

Whispers from behind the sea of bed sheets all conflicted with every other whisper she overheard. People assumed they were safe while other assumed they were not going to survive the next night.

People talked about massive swarms running rampant in the very cities the next group of people said were perfectly clear. Cassandra hoped perhaps Lewis would have more definitive answers.

She did not find him until nearly midday. He was in the hospital; a grim look on his face as he talked to Carlos.

She eyed him warily as she approached. Carlos smiled and nodded thoughtfully. Lewis looked bloody and tired.

"I'm OK," he said to her before she even said a word.

"What happened out there?"

Lewis reassured her. "It was just a small attack."

Cassandra suddenly felt far less than reassured. Lewis had no updates about what was happening anywhere beyond the parking lot of the warehouse. The 'small attack' he described left fifteen people dead in a matter of minutes.

Cassandra didn't even think about the depletion of ammunition. She was just grateful, as many others were, to be alive.

By the time the third week had come and passed, Cassandra had a daily routine down to science.

She would start in the morning with a meal. She showered at her allotted time of 9:50am for exactly five minutes. She would walk the community areas of the complex and eavesdrop on anyone she could find for tidbits of information.

She talked to Carlos every day around the noon hour and then got lunch before she met up with Lewis around mid-afternoon, exactly when his guard rotation ended so she get filled in on the details of the day, from the weather to new survivors to any word from any patrols.

In the late afternoon, she got dinner, and worked a four hour rotation in the kitchen, serving meals.

She would see Kyle from time to time during her days, but he spent his nights elsewhere. Cassandra did not even bother to pretend she did not know he was spending most of him time with a group of guys and girls that preferred to keep to private areas for private activities. She wasn't interested and did not care.

She could not even imagine how anyone could think about sex during a time like that. She noticed Kyle with at least five different girls over the weeks, and so long as that kept him happy and away from her, she kept to herself.

She did notice how with each passing day the menu options got distinctly less and the food servings became distinctly smaller.

She served dinner, and had her own, but she was not allowed into the section of the warehouse where the food was stocked up.

Every few days, small pockets of rescued citizens would arrive to the cheers of those established within the building.

In the weeks that passed, nearly a dozen babies were born, and Cassandra vaguely wondered how many more were created.

Fights broke out, and guards would step in. Sometimes a person wielding a shiv would cause an injury.

Suicides seemed to be almost a daily thing. Hanging seemed to be the popular choice for that, but a rash of death by poisoning seemed to be the most recent plague, and Cassandra suddenly felt uncomfortable drinking from anything she did not the full history on. Carlos was always kept busy, with three other doctors and a small army of nurses, too.

Cassandra eyed her morning meal one day, which consisted of one small slice of ham and one small scrambled egg accompanied by one slice of buttered toast and a cup of orange juice.

She glanced around at the giant building around her and tried her best to estimate how many people were being sheltered within its walls.

At a quick guess, she supposed there were two thousand people with somewhere just short of four hundred additional troops.

The space, which she once thought was so large, which once seemed to her to be like a massive social party or camp, was now beginning to seem very cramped and managed more like a prison. She could not help but wonder how much longer the walls around here would support the people within.

Some of those people had been in the building for a full month already. Cassandra and the group she came in with were now into the beginning of their fourth week.

The weapons that guarded the building were now being shot so routinely no one even looked up anymore. It was like white noise in the background of their homely little lives inside the walls, behind their bed sheet curtains.

From time to time there was a distant sound of explosions, which many in the group suspected were the sounds of bombs dropping. Cassandra recalled what Lewis had told her about the underground hive breeding grounds and the bombings. Over the last several days, the explosions sounded like they were getting ever closer.

"Hey, Cassandra?" Lewis' voice called to her late one afternoon, after her kitchen shift had ended.

He caught her on the way back to her sleeping area. She was tired and wanted to do nothing more than sleep. Several fights broke out that afternoon over the depleting rations. Men disagreed with giving more food to pregnant or nursing women. Obscenities and insults about keeping their legs crosses turned to punches and started an all-out brawl.

"What's wrong?" He asked, realizing how foolish of a question that was.

She shut her eyes gently and shook her head slowly.

"Listen...uh... I... I was wondering..." he paused as he moved in close to her, pressing his body against hers.

He leaned forward and put his lips close to her ear. Cassandra felt herself holding her breath. She tried not to imagine what he was about to ask her. For some reason she felt a brief wave of anger welling up while she contemplated exactly how she was going to respond.

"Um…." He interrupted her thought. "Do you know how to shoot a gun?"

That was definitely not what she expected. She looked at him with a puzzled glance.

"Uhhh…." She stammered.

He scratched his head and nodded. "Ok, well... will you come with me?"

She followed him to the back of the massive main floor, past the hospital, where Murray was sleeping on a cot under the red hospital sign. The two walked through a back door and descended down a well-lit stair well to the lowest level of the building, where she had once been chased out of while exploring with Kyle.

They walked together through a door and headed down a corridor, around a corner, and through a set of double doors and into a long large truck bay on a banked side of the building.

"What are we doing down here?"

Cassandra asked as she walked alongside Lewis down the long receiving dock, past the dozens of big rig trailers that were lined up against the concrete dock inside the huge garage.

"Target practice," he said.

He propped up a mannequin that had obviously been used for target practice before. It had hundreds of holes in it and someone had duct taped rolled up newspapers to the pathetic looking thing's head and butt to form a makeshift banana head and a very short, stubby tail, but a tail none the less. Cassandra laughed slightly at the comical sight.

"This is Barry the Bug. He's a little beat up," Lewis said, but glanced down at the mannequin's chest. "Well, she..."

"What am I supposed to do?" Cassandra said with a smile as she watched Lewis prop the thing upright.

"You're going to shoot it." He pulled out a gun and handed it, butt end to her.

Cassandra shook her head, "I'm not..."

"Just do it," Lewis insisted with an unquestioning tone in his voice.

"If the shit hits the fan you need to know how to shoot a gun."

She couldn't help but to think that he meant 'when', not 'if'.

"What's happening, Lewis?"

He did not answer, instead he forced the gun at her again and she reluctantly grabbed it. He slid to her side and began his lesson.

"This is called a Baby Desert Eagle..."

"What?" Cassandra interrupted.

"Look this is for real, alright. I want you to have this gun. Hide it. Keep in on you. Do _not_ let anyone know you have it, and don't let them take it from you. Now listen, it's loaded. Here's the safety," he pointed to a small area near the trigger.

"This is a big damned gun for you. It's powerful and loud, but not so bad as its full size sister. It's got a big kick back, so you need to practice with it, get used to its weight. Fire it a bunch."

He reached down and pulled out a small case from a pile of clutter near the shooting range.

"Bullets." He said, taking one out of the case and holding it up for her to see.

"Those are big bullets," she said quietly, in a whisper, as though her voice might alert someone to her presence, but the shooting of the gun wouldn't.

"Yea, well, not big enough…" Lewis muttered.

Cassandra wasn't sure if he meant for her to hear or not, but she did and she suddenly swallowed and cleared her throat.

Lewis continued on.

"Make sure you know what you're shooting at before you pull the trigger. And remember, these things have acid for blood, so you don't want to get back sprayed with their blood. We have not found anything yet that can stop their acid blood from eating through you... your clothes, nothing, doesn't matter if you have Kevlar on, or layers two feet thick. The blood burns a hole through anything. Steel, concrete, your skull. Doesn't matter. Understand?"

Cassandra nodded her head. Her jaw was locked tight and her eyes were growing wider by the moment.

"Now, this bullet will stop one of those face hugger guys flat out. But his big brothers; not so much. The best way to kill them, short of an automatic machine gun at your hip, is with rounds through its mouth. You know what that means, Cassy?"

She stared at him blankly.

"You need to practice. If one of those things comes charging at you full speed, you'll need to be able to aim for its mouth, fire, and do it from a safe distance so you don't get acid sprayed… and don't drop the gun because of all the power it has."

She swallowed. "What's a safe distance?"

Lewis looked behind her and nodded towards the floor.

"See that blue line there, that's ten meters from this here bad ass."

Cassandra looked to the blue line. "That's really far. Does it need to be that far?"

Lewis nodded, "The power of the gun will splash acid in all directions. You need to be far enough away. It'll be hard as hell to judge when they're charging at you, but you need to learn to fire from that distance. Trust me, I know. I've been there." He watched her stare at him.

He added after a quick pause. "Alright, let's do it."

They strode back to the blue firing line and he positioned her hands, head and body into the best firing position, talked her through a few points once again and reiterated the power of the weapon she was holding before she pulled the trigger.

The blast was far more intense than she expected. Her hand jolted back and she nearly lost her grip on the gun. The bullet she had fired zoomed to the far right of the bug mannequin and struck dead into the long side of one of the trailers parked in the bay. She sighed deeply and tried again after some prompting by Lewis.

Close to two hours later and a myriad of bullets later, Cassandra was feeling more comfortable with the weapon. Although it was hard to hold the gun still to fire and even harder yet to keep her whole body from shifting backwards after the blast, she was getting more able to actually shoot the mannequin.

Her aim was nowhere near the creature's newspaper head, however, so she silently hoped that if she ever needed to shoot one of the things, a chest shot would just magically work for her.

On the way back up to the main area, Cassandra walked slowly, contemplating the gun, and Lewis' insisting that she should learn how to use it. She could feel the weight of the thing pulling her jeans down in the back, where Lewis had tucked it into for the best hiding place.

"Lewis?" She stopped.

He turned to face her, but found himself unable to lift his eyes to hers.

"What is really going on?"

He smirked and kicked some dirt with his shoes. "I think we're losing."

Cassandra asked no more questions. She did not want to know. Lewis' tone said enough and the answer he gave was clearly understood.

She spent the majority of the next few days keeping well to herself as much as she could. She broke from her usual routine and even skipped showering so she did not have to worry about undressing and having the gun discovered by the female guards who patrolled the showers and kept watch over the time limits on the water consumption.

Over the next three days, she only emerged from her resting area one time per day, for her kitchen shift and meal. Whenever Lewis came to get her, she would go off with him and target practice.

Any other time she would sit with on her sleeping blankets, her fingers idly stroke the steel shaft of the weapon she hid in her clothes and she evaluated her own desire to live.

She had not even noticed as the days passed that the gun emplacements, which had been firing frequently for more than a week, protecting those inside from the attacking hordes, had stopped. One morning, she found herself alarmed, not by the sounds of war, but by the sounds of nothing.

An eerie silence filled the walls beyond the building and she couldn't help but to wonder why the guns weren't firing, why there were no voices echoing, why there was no hum of a tank engine or whirring of a turret.

She quietly headed out of the community areas and slowly treaded towards the two outer corridors. Nervously listening and looking warily all around her, she was not sure what she was so afraid of. The hallways led to offices, nothing remotely foreboding, although they were off limit areas for civilians.

Cassandra listened ahead of where she moved, waiting for any voices chasing her away from the forbidden areas. She turned left down the first corridor she came to.

She walked past unlit offices, some with frosted glass doors, others with solid wood doors and nameplates. There was no sound from any of the rooms at all. She tiptoed her way to the end of the long corridor and thought she perceived a change in temperature in the hallway.

She felt her hand suddenly sliding its way towards the handle of the gun in the back of her pants, as though it did so without her guidance.

When she rounded a corner she stopped in her tracks and felt her heart skip several beats. There was a massive hole in the side of the building and a large pile of bug carcasses filled the opening and some of the hallway.

A strong breeze blew in from the outside and Cassandra realized she was suddenly smelling the outside air for the first time in a month. The air did not smell the way she remembered it. A heavy stench of gunpowder and acid lingered sourly in her nostrils as she backed away from the corridor.

It was hard for her to believe a swarm of bugs had breached the secure walls of the shelter installation and were just a few hundred feet from a massive unarmed community within the building's walls.

She had seen with her own eyes what one of the monsters could do, and she knew what an attacking horde could do. She crept over to the hole in the wall and peered out into the clearly deserted and unprotected parking lot beyond.

She watched with bated breath, listened intently, but saw and heard nothing as her eyes scanned back and forth around her surrounds.

Seeing nothing, and wondering where Lewis was, she headed back on heightened alert, down the corridor she had just come through.

When she reached the intersection back to the hallway towards the community area, she stopped and contemplated her options.

Instead of turning left, back into the main room, she took off slowly to the right, down an adjacent hallway that circumvented the community areas and headed to the main doors of the warehouse. Once she hit an outer corridor, she found a row of window offices.

Oddly, the halls were all quiet as well, though she knew they were off limits and utilized by the highest ranking officers.

She popped into the first office she found and did not hesitate to pull on the string to raise the blinds that covered the window and her view of the morning sights. The parking lot looked less like a war zone and far more like a slaughter house.

Hundreds of tattered animal corpses lay strewn in all directions as far as she could see. They were piled on top of one another, as though one attacking swarm simply walked over the tops of a previously fallen horde.

Cassandra felt nauseous as she stared out the window. She sat down on the desk and still faced the outside. The bright sun was shining down from a clear blue sky onto the cadaver field.

Though it should have been a relief to not see a single human body dead amongst the piles of gigantic animals, Cassandra could not focus on anything but the death and destruction she could see beyond the acidic graveyard of the bugs.

Far in the distance Cassandra could see smoke billowing up from the woods miles in the distance. Nothing was visible over the tree line far beyond, only smoke. All around the warehouse complex, there was no hint of civilization.

Only dead bugs, trees, and smoke from a massive fire somewhere in the distance were visible. She suddenly felt lost and trapped in the middle of the desolate area; contained inside an island of concrete surrounded by nothing but death, stench, acid, and destruction.

Her eyes settled onto the thick black smoke that rose up over the trees in the distance as she stared quietly outside.

"Cassy?"

She turned around quickly to see Lewis and Carlos Murray side by side, staring at her.

"You shouldn't be here," Lewis whispered to her as he walked into the room.

"Are you alright?" Murray asked, frowning as he looked at her tormented face.

Lewis came over to her and placed his hand on her shoulder. She looked him in the eye and saw a fearful gaze looking back at her. She glanced to Murray, who seemed equally frightened.

"I'm fine," She answered him directly. "What's happening?"

"Come on, we need to go." Lewis said softly.

"Go? Where? What do you mean go?" Cassandra questioned with a worried tone.

Lewis smiled softly, "Go back to the common area. Get away from these windows. It isn't safe here."

They walked back through the corridor silently. Cassandra heard the sounds of gunfire start back up again. For a moment, the trio stopped and considered the sound as they exchanged glances. Cassandra was certain the situation had spun out of control by the looks on their faces.

"Lewis..." she started quietly.

"Just go inside," Lewis said as he dismissed her and trotted off down the adjacent corridor, leaving her behind with Carlos, who directed her towards the innermost portion of the building where the common area was set up.

Cassandra looked around, stunned, for a moment. She halfway expected to see a complete panic.

She had a few short seconds to mentally prepare herself before walking to within visual distance of the community of children, adults, and elderly, and brace herself for a certain panic, a fight, and chaos as people tried to flee or fight for their lives.

The community area was fairly quiet, but no one looked alarmed at all. Instead, people did what they had been doing for the last few weeks; they mingled, they played, they read books, they wrote in their journals, they smiled, they laughed, they shouted to their friends, they held each other tight; they waited for the announcement that they could all go home.

Not one of them, Cassandra realized suddenly, was aware of what was going on outside. None of them realized there was a sea of death and destruction beyond the complex walls.

No one knew that the horde had punched, blown, melted, or chewed, a hole through the heavy walls expected to keep them safe. She felt her heart sink and Carlos felt her tremble slightly as she stepped with him into the common area.

"Don't go far," Carlos warned.

"Cassy!" Kyle called from across the common area as soon as she walked onto the great floor.

He came bolting over to her, followed by a group of his new friends, each who looked utterly terrified.

"There's a huge swarm of them coming in! We got to go! Come on!"

Kyle spoke loudly to her, and the people sheltered in the area that were within earshot suddenly lifted their heads. The place fell silent as all heads began to look to the walls that surrounded them.

The sounds of the renewed battle outside echoed up in the morning air, and this time, they sounded different.

Over the sounds of the gunfire, the loud shrieks of the horde outside echoed through the great chamber of the industrial complex. Cassandra stepped closer to Carlos and eyed him warily. He looked lost, uncertain.

"Come on!" Kyle urged again.

Cassandra looked silently, with wide eyes, at Carlos who said and did nothing, merely shook his head slowly as if to tell her not to leave. Kyle yanked on her arm hard and spun her away.

"Where!?" She asked quickly, planting her feet to the ground while Kyle tried to drag her off.

"We've got to leave! Listen, they've broken the walls down. The army isn't gonna be able to protect us much longer, we've got to go."

"I know," she said pointing in the direction of the wall breach she had seen this morning. "I saw the wall over there, but they're all dead."

Kyle paused and followed her finger. He shook his head and pointed in a different direction. "No Cassy, they're coming in from over there right now and they're all alive. They're in the building!"

His words seemed to echo even louder than that of the gunfire and the shrieking voices of the bugs that invaded. People all around them began to murmur, a slow panic filling the tension in the room.

Some people jumped up and gathered their belongings from the ground and fled for the main exit at the front of the building just at hearing Kyle's words. Cassandra took a deep breath and watched the swarm of people start running to the outside. Kyle tugged at her arm once again.

"Come on!"

She turned and headed towards the outer corridor just behind the mass of panicked people. She tried to look back to see where Carlos was, but he quickly was lost in the shuffle.

She noticed out of the corner of her eye armed officers galloping down hallway of the second floor corridor, clearly running towards the community area.

They were yelling, though it was hard to make out what each officer was shouting about over the terrified screams of the people who all suddenly decided to evacuate the building at exactly the same time. Cassandra watched as several of the men dropped to their knees, readied their weapons and opened fire within the massive community area.

The loud shots caused an even greater stir than the people were in already. The frightened citizens that were simply trying to flee at the very words of the animals being inside the building suddenly had their attention drawn to the upper corner of the main floor which they had called home for several long weeks now.

A flood was appeared from the upper corridor and inside the massive open space. Shots rang out non-stop from the high powered hand held automatic weapons the officers carried, but it was barely making a dent into the sheer numbers.

The bug drones ran full speed like a swarm of angry wasps, along the floor, walls, and upside down on the ceilings. Within seconds, the upper walkway sizzled away and collapsed, sending with a massive crack and thud.

The animals fell and leapt off the walls into the sea of bed sheet houses and blood curdling screams soon topped the sounds of the weapon fire and alien shrieking.

Unarmed and frightened, those who could run, tried to do so and began to shove one another through the opening to the outer hallways, which was far too small to accommodate a panicked mob.

Cassandra could not pull her eyes away from the opposite end of the massive room. The animals, too many to count, continued to pour in, clearly undisturbed by the weapon fire at them, and obviously unafraid.

The entire corner where the animals entered from was pitch black and glistening with the creatures' shiny bodies. A sea of a teeth and claws and tails rushed into the open space and the gunfire dam that the officers tried to create barely thinned the herd.

"Oh God!" Cassandra whispered with tears in her eyes.

"We'll never get out of here!" Kyle yelled.

They were getting pushed and shoved by the people all around them and it was becoming increasingly more difficult to hold their ground.

Kyle and Cassandra and the group of friends that followed him shoved off as best they could to the side wall of the room, trying to avoid being trampled.

Cassandra watched for a moment as some people in the back of the mob pushed and shoved those in front of them, knocking them down, clambering over those who had fallen.

The soldiers fired until their guns had gone dry and they called out for reloads from their ammunition runner. They shot desperately at the horde of creatures while the animals killed with ease and ran rampant. Cassandra tried to fall back, against the mass of people all trying to evacuate through the same doors that lead to the same corridor.

She pushed her away against the crowd, back braced up against a side wall, trying desperately to make it to the opposite end of the room and into a corridor that led towards the back of the building instead.

"We can get out through the back!" Cassandra said to Kyle loudly, nodding in the direction of the back exit, on the other side of the far end of the room.

"We've got to try! Let's go!" Kyle yanked her arm and the two barged forward forcefully, followed by a few stunned teen-aged friends who ran to catch up.

The shots continued to ring out. It was almost impossible to hear anything above the sounds of weapons fire and screaming. Cassandra saw Carlos in the sea of bed sheets and heads before her, but he did not hear her call to her. He appeared to be trying to help people that had been pushed, punched, trampled.

"Cassy!" Lewis called to her suddenly, from the same corridor she was trying to get to.

She watched him run towards Carlos and grab him, forcing him back through the corridor. He flagged for her to follow and she tried to make it to him against the screaming people around her. More shots began to ring out into the crowd, from civilians who had grabbed fallen weapons from dead soldiers.

Above the sounds of panic and shrieking, Cassandra was quite sure she heard a bullet whiz past her head.

Lewis yelled to her to keep moving as he fired his weapon at the approaching animals. The gunfire into the group caused people to splay in every direction.

Cassandra just noticed half a dozen or so people, terrified looks etched into their faces, run away from one man who had started firing a gun into the air. They fell into and pulled down a series of bed sheets hanging on clothesline, knocking down a whole row of what had once been private sleeping areas.

As the sheets came down, the monstrous heads of the deadly animals became visible right on top of the fleeing people. The animals jumped into action, impaling them with their tails, claws, and second set of jaws.

Cassandra and the others finally joined Lewis and Carlo, a dozen other armed officers, and twice as many more citizens.

They all bolted through the back exit door and thundered down a corridor, past the hole in the wall that Cassandra had found earlier, down flight of stairs and through the loading bay that had served as a target practice range.

Cassandra barely noticed the newspaper and duct-tape mannequin alien animal that lay on the ground, riddled with practice holes.

The frightened people ran ahead while Lewis doubled back towards the doors behind the group. Cassandra followed him and pulled her gun out, aiming at the doors with Lewis and several other officers as they watched the remaining few citizens run past them.

They waited a moment, Cassandra's weapon shaking furiously. She held her breath and listened to the screams and shrieks barely audible from the far away upper level, as she tried to steady her hands.

"Let's go," Lewis said quickly, when it seemed no animals had taken off after them.

They turned and ran quickly back to the front of the group, Cassandra stopping just behind Kyle, at the front of the group, when they came to a set of opposing hallways.

"Which way?" Cassandra gasped.

"Left!" Lewis yelled, startling her as he joined her.

Without a second to consider, Kyle lunged off to the left and the group followed, tearing off down the hallway towards the red 'EXIT' sign that glowed at the end, just above a set of doors.

Kyle bolted towards the doors, out running the officers who were leading the group. He reached his hand out to depress the bar to the door as he approached. It was locked and he slammed into the door hard.

"Kyle!" Cassandra shouted as she slid to a halt.

She helped him up while Lewis turned the dual deadbolt locks on the door. Looking agitated and humiliated by his mistake, Kyle slammed the bar down hard and flung the door open without a word to Cassandra.

He hopped outside, but pulled to a quick halt as the view filled his eyes between the running stream of blood that dripped over his lashes from the wound on his forehead.

The back parking lot, where the transport vehicles sat looked as much like a slaughter field as what Cassandra had seen of the front parking area. The vehicles were chewed apart both by bullets and acid blood, and none looked suitable for driving.

Lewis wasted no time. He quickly ran from vehicle to vehicle, searching for one that seemed close to drivable. He found one that had no acid burns on it and quickly leapt into the cab.

The engine roared to life and the group hurried over to the vehicle, filing into the back as quickly as they could. Kyle darted through two parked vehicles. Cassandra ran with the group around the fronts of both of the large transport vehicles.

A terrible series of yells filled the air. Cassandra looked back between the vehicles and saw Kyle's twisted body dangling like a wet towel off the tail of one of the black monsters that sat upon the top of the truck.

She howled as someone grabbed her and carried her off toward the vehicle that was running and ready to escape.

One officer lifted his weapon and fired it wildly at the sadistic black monster. The thing squealed in agony for a moment before its head exploded into several chunks and the acidic shower from its bloody brains rained down off the roof of the vehicle.

Another creature darted out of the doorway from which the group had just exited and launched itself onto two of the last soldiers still trying to make their way to the vehicle. Both men were knocked to the ground.

One stopped moving immediately, while the other pulled himself up in time to point his gun. He screamed as he fired while the animal launched onto him. Both man and beast thumped to the ground, covered in acid blood as the last of the fleeing group slammed the back door to the transport closed and Lewis floored the gas pedal.

"Oh God!" Cassandra whimpered.

Lewis stayed silent as he egged the vehicle on to its fastest capable speeds and sped out of the industrial park's entrance. He took a turn so sharply the vehicle lost its traction on the right side and tipped upwards for a moment.

It slammed back down hard to the ground. The people in the back screamed and shouted. Murray popped his head into the front and quickly evaluated Lewis and Cassandra, instinctively looking them both over for injuries before turning his head to Lewis.

"Where are you gonna go?"

Lewis gritted his teeth. Cassandra looked at him through wide teary eyes. He glanced down at the dash, automatically checking the vehicle's fuel gauge. He shook his head quickly.

"I don't know, I don't know!"

"Look out!" Murray screamed, pointing through the windshield.

Cassandra shrieked and Lewis slammed on the brakes as he swerved the vehicle sideways, trying to avoid slamming into one of the creatures that was facing off with the vehicle in the middle of the road.

He failed to miss the animal and the thing slammed into the front bumper with a sickly thud. The force of the impact sent the thing clattering onto the hood. It clawed its way over the top of the cab and onto the top of the back of the truck.

It banged around on the metal roof, causing a panic in the back. One armed soldier reached for the door and opened it, halfway leaning out. He tried to eye the creature on the roof.

Shouts and yelling voices filled the back of the vehicle for him to close the door, for Lewis to drive on quickly, for everyone to get down. Cassandra and Murray turned to look at the passengers and watched as one person pulled the solider back into the crowd and another slammed the door closed as he yelled hysterically at the gunman.

"Keep it closed!" He shouted.

Cursing, the man sat back down. The monster on the roof stopped banging for a moment and a hush filled the back of the truck. Each person held their breath, listening for the slightest sound that could give away the animal's position.

Suddenly a tail tore through the side of the vehicle, slicing one of the passengers through the shoulder. The woman fell forward crying in pain as everyone leapt to the opposite side of the truck.

"Jesus," Murray whispered.

The vehicle swayed under the force of all the people jumping to one side and gunfire from within the truck rang out loudly as one frightened solider shot at the tail of the animal before it pulled loose.

A loud squeal resonated off the walls and a tiny drop of acid burned a narrow section of the side of the truck away clean down to the frame. The vehicle whined as Lewis lost control for a moment when the frame between the front and back sets of tires gave way.

The truck swayed furiously, sending its passengers rattling on top of each other. Cassandra gripped the side of the door and braced for a crash, but after a moment, Lewis was able to bring the vehicle under control and he continued straight onto his uncertain destination.

Someone tried to peer out through the strip of side wall that was now missing. He eyed the roof and sides of the vehicle for a moment before declaring that he no longer thought the creature was attached to the vehicle.

He turned back to the group inside and shifted away from the hole to the outside. Suddenly, long clawed fingers gripped the inside of the truck through the hole in the side. People shouted out again and one solider raised a pistol to the wall.

He shot several times. Whether he intentionally meant to miss the animal's ghastly fingers in order to avoid any more acid spray or not, the creature did let go.

A very loud clattering and thumping faintly echoed into the truck. Cassandra glanced out her side view mirror and saw the black creature's body flipping over and rolling down to the shoulder of the road as the vehicle sped on down the highway.

"It's gone," she whispered.

"Lewis?"

He did not answer. His teeth were clenched too tightly closed to speak. His body was tense and he kept his eyes locked on the road in front of him.

His hands gripped the steering wheel so tightly, Cassandra could see his dark knuckles turning ghastly white. Unlike other areas closer to larger cities, the roadways along the quiet small towns were mostly devoid of vehicles.

There were no people to be seen in the vacant small towns that they passed through. A fire was still visible, burning far in the distance.

Lewis remained silent as he piloted the vehicle away from the horrors they had escaped. Murray never asked again where they were headed and Cassandra occupied her time with trying to force her mind to get rid of the images she kept seeing replayed before her eyes of all the people dying in the industrial building, of Kyle's body getting dropped to the ground covered in blood, and of Stephanie, David, her family, New York City.

She squeezed her eyes shut to try to chase the flashes of bloody images away.


	15. Chapter 14

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN**

The truck lurched to a halt. Cassandra felt it shutter and heard a harsh clicking sound emerge from under the hood. She opened her eyes as the group in the back started up again, moaning and calling out to their driver.

"It's all right." Lewis said harshly and quietly.

"Where are we?" Cassandra said, pulling herself upright in her seat and looking around. She didn't even realize she had fallen asleep.

She could see that they were in a parking lot somewhere. There was a large department store in front of them, and off to the sides, several smaller shops and a few restaurants. The truck was pulled to a stop in a small strip mall.

Cassandra looked about the front of the truck and out the windows. It was nearly night fall, and there were no obvious signs of any activity.

"We are in the middle of nowhere, halfway to everywhere, and too damned far from everything." Lewis answered her unhappily.

Murray popped his head back out from the back and looked around.

"Oh good," he said quickly, as though the sudden stop was actually a planned tactic. "Food, supplies. We have some injured people back here. I'm sure we can find plenty of useful supplies. Where are we anyway?"

"Out of gas," Lewis said.

"What? Oh God," Cassandra whispered and tipped her head back against her window.

"Yeah," he scorned.

"Well, can you call for help on the radio?" Murray asked softly.

"Hey Wells! Wells!" Lewis called into the back.

After some rustling and shifting of passengers, a scraggly, wavy red haired young officer popped his head through the curtain that separated the front from the back.

"Yeah?" Wells said.

"Your radio work?" Lewis asked.

He tried it several times, but there was static and a high pitched whine on one of the channels.

"Uh, I think the radio's working, but this is all I get."

"Same up here."

"What does that mean?" Cassandra asked as she listened to the high pitched tone and empty static.

Lewis shook his head slowly.

"It means no one's there to answer."

Murray smirked and sighed deeply.

"Well, we need to rest, and there's no point in staying in the truck."

"What? Why? Let's keep going, where are we anyway?" Wells asked.

"We're out of gas," Lewis whispered softly once again.

The group heard him and the back of the truck filled with grieving moans once again. Lewis popped his door open and jumped out. Someone in the back pushed open the loading door and the passengers began to flow out into the evening lit parking lot.

Cassandra hesitated, but opened her door and climbed down from the truck. She glanced around quietly into the eerie silence. The parking lot lamps came on, casting a dim yellow glow around an otherwise dark lot.

The stores and restaurants were closed, dark, and the doors were locked. Only a handful of appropriately-parked cars were scattered in the parking lot.

The town did not look like it had seen any attack or suffered any vandalism; it just looked like the entire population up and left. The sign near the traffic light on the street stated that this strip mall was the Cross Stream Shopping Center, at the corner of Vine and Ridgeway.

A small group of people headed over to the large department store in the strip and tried the door. It opened readily for them as they approached.

"Awesome, it's open!"

"So glad they left it unlocked for us!"

The people joked as they strode into the store. Inside, the shelves and racks were unstirred. A few things were knocked around, and there were several filled shipping carts just left in the aisles near the cash stands.

"Lewis?" Cassandra whispered as they walked through the store.

"Yea?" he answered crisply.

"Do you think we can hold out here for very long?"

"I don't know, maybe. I just don't know."

"What do you think we should do?" She whispered softly.

"I don't know," Lewis said with a sharp tone.

"Hey," Carlos said to Lewis quickly, "we'll figure something out."

"Yeah, right," Lewis grunted.

Cassandra sighed and pulled away from the two men once inside the store and down the aisle far enough away from the door. She walked slowly over to where a group of the successful escapees had made themselves at home in the furniture department.

Over the next few minutes, the tired and hungry people were acting as though they were all at a camping trip. They took microwaves off the shelves, plugged them in and began to prepare some food that others had piled into shopping carts from the other side of the store.

Carlos and some of the injured found first aide supplies in the pharmacy areas, and anyone wishing for some new clothes took their pick. As they settled in, the group sat over their meals and discussed quietly their best options.

"Alright," one man started to the group.

Lewis cast him a sharp look as the man stood and stared around at the group sitting in a clustered circle around the furniture department display floor.

"What do we do now? We've got, what, ten guns or so?"

"What we need to do now is hold out as long as possible," someone else suggested quickly.

"What, you mean like in the truck depot? Cause look at how well that worked out." Another voice added.

The group broke into an opinionated murmur. Some voiced their beliefs that the group as a whole should evacuate immediately to a more secure location while others argued to wait for dawn before leaving.

Yet more in the group believed holding out for as long as possible and awaiting help to arrive for them would be a better choice. Those voting for the holding out position soon had their voices over ridden by a loud man standing over them, who began insisting that finding gas for the truck and driving out of the nowhere town would be the best course.

Others, including Cassandra, remained quiet, not really knowing if any option was a good one.

The group grew louder.

"We don't even know if there's anyone left!"

"Are you kidding? We aren't the last group standing!"

"Maybe no one will ever come through this way. We have to leave to find safety."

Lewis stood, a heavy contemplation mingled with fear etched on his face. The debate raged on and it wasn't until those that voted to remain held up at least for the night stood and faced off with the man who shouted about moving on that Lewis finally intervene, before a fist fight nearly broke out.

"What do you think we should do? Don't you know where to go?" Someone glared at Lewis and snapped harshly.

"We should stand and fight! We can hold out here long enough!" One man yelled trying to rally the group into agreement.

"To what end?" Lewis whispered loudly enough to get everyone's attention focused on to him. "We tried holding out, fighting them off, we had tons of ammunition then… heavy weapons..." he trailed off and his eyes bounced amongst the group, from soldier to soldier, gun to gun.

"We have maybe a dozen weapons, no extra ammo. We can't hold out here."

"What do you suggest, Lewis?" Murray asked quietly from across the group.

He raised his eyebrows. "I think we hold here through the night. In the morning we get the hell out of here, find somewhere safe."

"Yeah, yeah," the loud man said quickly. "He knows what he's talking about, leave. Get the hell out of here, run! Let's do it!"

"Where do we go? Where will we be safe?" A woman questioned with a sense of hopeless despair in her tone. "Do you know?"

"No," Lewis responded morbidly. "But we have the whole night to think up a plan."

"A plan..." the other man muttered, his words continued under his breath as he strode around and took a seat once again, shoving a forkful of a microwave meal into his mouth.

Several women in the group started to sob. Cassandra glanced at Lewis and thought about the situation, contemplating silently what would happen next.

She wondered if the others may have been right; that no one was left, save for small pockets of survivors just like them.

Lewis stood firm with his intention and stalked off to pull out a street map. He stared at it forcefully as if he was hoping a good answer would start blinking like a Broadway sign before his eyes.

The group softened their murmurs and whispered amongst themselves. Some occupied themselves with wondering about the condition of the world outside, the population remaining, and worry if the bugs would soon find them.

Others lingered over Lewis and the other soldiers, helping them form a plan. One man in the group poured a little too much interest in reading food ingredients on the boxes of the meals they had opened.

Another trio spent most of their time futilely trying to get any signal possible on a phone, a tablet, a radio. Everyone wondered where they should go, whether they did so silently or not.

"Do you think there's even a chance we can make it to any of those places in one piece?" Someone in the group asked of Lewis as he eavesdropped over the conversation around the map.

"I'm sure of it. We just need to find some gas." Lewis responded confidently.

One person in the group shut her eyes and counted briefly.

"We could probably make it there in seven or eight hours." She said with a hint of casualness in her voice that suggested they would be embarking on a summer trip for a vacation.

Another in the group did not believe that eight hours was a quick enough travel time.

"We should get separate cars. That big rig thing can't go fast, especially carrying all these people."

"I don't think we should steal people's cars!" One woman said in a shocked whisper.

"Why the hell not?" The loud man snapped back. "You think they're gonna need 'em? They're all probably dead by now."

"Alright, that's enough." Lewis snapped in frustration at the bickering that came up at every turning point in their conversation.

He glanced towards the survivors. Some stood near Lewis, some laid back on sofa beds, bean bag chairs and others sat around a semi-circle between the food section and the bedroom linens. All eyes directed to him.

"It's the best plan we've got right now. We're gonna' keep tryin' to get radio contact, figure out what our orders are…. Or if there's some kind of evacuation plan. We'll get to safety. We will."

Casandra did not know if Lewis believed what he was saying or if he was just trying to keep the group calm, but he came across as convincing enough to settle everyone down.

Lewis, Carlos, and Cassandra sat quietly in a small group, finally getting some food for themselves after they made their own rounds around the department store, grabbing up additional supplies and provisions.

Cassandra loaded up a back pack with everything she could carry, from crackers to tampons and travel bottles of shampoo, to a change of a clothes and a large knife.

As they rejoined the group, the tone of the stranded survivors had turned from anxious and argumentative to despair and hopelessness to reminiscing about the life now gone.

Paula from New Jersey talked about her two college age sons that she hadn't had contact with in weeks, off in South Carolina; she didn't know if they were alive or dead. Jordan was from The Bronx, and had been separated from her mother during the mass evacuation.

She sobbed hysterically as she described holding out in dark silence in her small apartment.

Paul, an executive at a licensing company in Manhattan had the loudest opinions about what to do, but settled quietly down while the group talked. He did not have much to add to the conversation, only that he hoped his ex-wife met up with one of the bugs.

No one found it funny. A family from Russia had been visiting and were stranded in Philadelphia when flights around the globe were cancelled.

More than forty people provided a brief look into themselves, their homes, their lives, and what had happened in their city.

Some of the people, Cassandra had found surprising, had not even seen one of the black alien monsters; not until that morning.

Slowly, people started to drift off to sleep while others, with weapons, kept watch over them. It was nearly midnight and with at least some semblance of a plan in mind for the morning, the group seemed content enough to relax into sleep.

"Hey, hey! I've got something! I've got something!" Someone yelled, rousing Cassandra and everyone else awake.

"There's a broadcast! From Chicago!"

The group surrounded a flat screen television, and a hush fell after a brief murmur. Cassandra focused on the screen and felt like crying.

She wasn't sure if she wanted to cry because what she saw on the screen filled her with hope or fear. The subtitle on the bottom definitely read 'Chicago, Illinois'.

The images showed jam packed streets full of desperate people trying to survive. It looked like a war zone, with refugees packed into every crevice possible.

There were massive food lines, and the video footage, clearly from a remotely operated vehicle, showed people making camp on roof tops, in the streets, out of cars for blocks and blocks of the city streets.

It was like the industrial warehouse, only on a much larger scale. Flags and bedsheets with spray painted names and messages hung from almost every window of every building; burned, turned over and destroyed vehicles and dumpsters lined the streets and trash blew around in a breeze.

The scene from the aerial footage almost immediately reminded her of the Great Depression. Black and white images from the chapters in her school books about a time when most of America had lost hope and all that they owned suddenly seemed to be appearing again, in full color, from drone footage on a plasma television.

Forced from their homes in fear for their lives, fleeing an enemy that seemed unstoppable, countless people piled into the streets for lack of a bed to sleep in.

Obvious cots, bed sheets, sleeping bags, and even furniture lined the sidewalks amidst clothing, animals, and personal belongings.

Trash piled high in a massive garbage heap around one corner while ten block long food lines formed on the other side of the massive encampment.

Police and uniformed military patrolled the crowd throughout the streets and maintained a barricade around a small section of the great city. Even from above, the look of despair was obvious on the faces of so many.

She watched these desperate people sympathetically, sharing in their pain as they lived their nightmare out too much in shock to even believe it was really happening to them.

Weeks of having no roof over their heads seemed to have driven many people mad. Cassandra tried to turn her head away as tears flowed down her cheeks. She did not find anything comforting about the footage at all.

A reporter's voice streamed along with the footage, describing the ever increasing military presence in the city, the desperate situations of the entire American people and the crime, violence, and suicide that was plaguing the so called 'safe zone'.

The small group watching the television monitors stared in awe, horror and uncertainty. The reporter confirmed that to the best of her knowledge, every surviving person for a hundred miles that had been located, was forced, willingly or otherwise, into the safe zone for protection from the dangerous animals.

She mentioned a seemingly endless list of cities that had been bombed in the last twenty-four hours, and could not even begin to put a number on the loss of life.

Inside the industrial complex, things did not seem so desperate. Cassandra thought for a minute how people, for the most part, seemed to all coexist inside those walls.

There were some fights, some suicides. There were some births, and even a couple marriages. No one on the screen before her eyes seemed happy, optimistic, or hopeful. She did not think life seemed that desperate just a day before.

Now as she stared at the screen and took in the unhospitable conditions of the safe zone, Cassandra felt that perhaps the small group would be safer holding out on their own instead of trying to add to the crowded streets.

The city may not yet have seen the black monsters that were plaguing the rest of the country, the world, but they were trying to deal with their own horrors. The military presence was not only to keep the nightmarish creatures out of the guarded zone, but also to keep the peace amongst the people in the streets as the situation quickly fell apart.

The reporter talked endlessly as the short clip of footage aired again and again. She spoke of the dangers within the safe zones to everyone, and detailed a grizzly account of an elderly coupled brutalized merely for their cozy bed in their sheltered apartment.

With enough food, clothing, towels, working showers, bathrooms, and provisions for the masses the industrial complex sounded more like a luxury hotel in comparison to the safe zone the reporter described, where people murdered each other in the streets fighting over the basics of living.

The reporter discussed further that despite there being many food stations throughout the safety zones, the lines to eat were so long that many people were only able to receive one small meal every twenty four hours.

The fear of starvation only spurred fights. The reporter stated that a recent attempt to get food caused a massive riot that left over twenty people dead, forcing the armed authorities to institute a shoot-to-kill policy to keep order.

It quickly became clear watching the broadcast that there simply weren't any provisions for anyone; there were no food drops, no care packages, no Red Cross, no back up, nothing.

The reporter speculated about unconfirmed rumors that only three other safe zones like the one in Chicago even existed. She questioned if those three areas, along with any unknown number of scattered pockets of survivors, were the last of the entire population of the country, possibly the world.

Though admitting numerous times to being pure speculation, the reporter continued on talking about the crisis at the international level.

She reported on the last known information from Europe, detailing the last reports she had on the defensive efforts from other nations.

She did mention that it was speculated that remote locations, islands and less populated areas of the world do have the potential for being totally unaffected. Still, there was almost no current way for the leaders of any nation to even know how many humans or living animals still resided within their boundaries.

As the group watched the report, many broke out into tears. Once the aerial footage stopped its continuous playback loop, the report switched to brief clips and interviews with some of the residents of the safe zone, some of whom complained, as the reporter had, of overpopulation and lack of supplies.

It seemed the plague of alien animals was not the only disease affecting humanity. The safe zone was quickly falling in on itself, just as the shelter Cassandra has been surviving at did.

Once weapons were too heavily depleted, it left entire populations at risk of being swarmed. The animals, which were usually referred to as "bugs" and considered insects like ants or bees, seemed to have mastered war tactics, too.

Cassandra and the others all contemplated aloud how exactly it was that the animals seemed to manage to force large populations into a confined reason, attack constantly enough to drain them of their defensive resources, then mob and overpower them with an intense swarm.

The group wondered amongst themselves if such a massive safe zone as the one in Chicago, for all is defensive resources, would or could be penetrated in the same manner.

Even if the bugs did not do it, the safe zone displayed on the screen before them seemed to be reaching something of an overpopulation crisis, and as residents continued to spend their few seconds of air time crying for more help, it did not go unnoticed that bugs were not the only threat within the massive city-complex.

Cassandra looked around her at the small group, wondering if the smaller numbers stood a better chance for survival or if it would be better to be in a large group.

Her mind rushed back through the last two months of her life. From hiding in her apartment with just one other person, to sheltering in a bus terminal with nearly two hundred, to the thousands that packed into the large industrial depot, none of those places were really safe.

The creatures, able to outnumber because of their ability to breed within animals as well as humans, swarmed the planet's surface and nested below ground. When they attacked an area, it seemed they did not rest until all were victimized, and no more reports came from an overrun area.

There was almost no question by the end of the report that the animals were winning. It had been nearly ten weeks since the very first reports filled the airwaves about the parasitic "face hugger" animals and the first victims that died because of the strange 'parasite' that had appeared out of nowhere in the middle of one night. It all seemed so long ago now, Cassandra thought.

Just one day before, the world was bustling about as usual, each person tending to their own business. The next day was buzzing with reports of a possible terrorist attack or some prehistoric creature that had finally emerged from some unexplored depth of the planet, or perhaps instead had dropped from outer space.

Now it all seemed so irrelevant. Life had simply taken a downward turn and both the cause and effect had spread rapidly throughout the entire planet over in the weeks to follow.

Just like the snapping of some long, clawed fingers, the planet was changed. A war and a depression unlike anything in the planet's entire history was unfolding before her eyes, and the _homo-sapien_ species was standing on the brink of complete extinction.

Cassandra realized it, not when the creatures had attacked, not even after losing her friends, and losing touch with her family. It was not even being forced from her new home and left to sit wondering if she would even survive until dawn that made her feel it.

She was sure humans would become extinct as she sat and watched the report that night. The weight of the situation had finally truly hit her. Somehow until now it all seemed like the longest, oddest nightmare one could have, but would wake up from.

There had been hope that the animals would be killed off, and that life would just go back to normal. However, now it seemed the tides were turning. People, so caught up in their own survival, were tearing themselves apart, and what they missed, the animals took care of.

The large masses of people were clearly scared and tired of being packed into the streets of a city far from their homes. Regular working people were going mad in the face of losing everything they had spent their entire lives working to achieve.

Cassandra had barely begun to live hers and her great plan for the future had fallen apart long before it had even come to be. Now she stood in shocked amazement with a small group of willful survivors wondering what tomorrow might bring.

It would have been tomorrow morning that Cassandra and Stephanie would have been starting their first day of their first semester on the road to their new life. Instead, it was all ripped away with a bloody, terrible rush of tearing flesh and cracking bone, surrounded by the hissing and shrieking of the satanic giant creatures.

"You alright, hon?" A gentle voice asked.

Cassandra glanced at a sweet faced motherly lady who had placed her palm gently on Cassandra's shoulder. She nodded and tried to force a smile. The woman grimaced sadly.

"I was just thinking," Cassandra whispered. "I was wondering if we should even try to go there?"

The woman lowered her eyes as though she, too, had thought the same notion.

"Well, it'll be alright. Jesus will look after us. I don't know why, I don't know how, but He made this happen for a _reason_." The wrinkled-faced woman spoke in an emotional whisper, emphatically declaring, as her shaking hands clutched a crucifix pendant, that there was most definitely a reason for why this _infestation_ had happened.

Cassandra took a breath breather and considered her words, but said nothing.

"How old are you, child?"

Cassandra pondered the woman for a moment.

"Eight..." her eyes drifted off to the side and she stopped briefly. "No, nineteen now. I forgot. I guess I missed my birthday." She grunted to herself; it seemed so irrelevant.

"Why not sit with us, child?" the woman indicated to a small group of women in the aisleway, each kneeling with their hands folded together in front of their chins.

Cassandra looked to them for a moment. Their faces were peaceful, they were not looking at the screen, nor were they concerned with where the group should go the following morning. They had their eyes shut and were whispering softly to themselves in deep prayer.

Cassandra could feel her heart beating quickly, as if it was alarmed and confused, telling her exactly what to do while she tried hard to stifle its opinions.

"I...uh..." she started to say, but a voice interrupted her.

"Come. Kneel with us before God, and we will help you through what is to come." The woman tried to urge Cassandra again.

She turned an uncertain glance back to Lewis, who did not offer her any direction. He looked rather like he might like to come pray with the women himself. Cassandra let herself be guided to the small group and knelt with them, glancing around at five women around her, as the elderly woman who helped her over knelt down along with the rest of them.

"I…" Cassandra cleared her throat. She didn't know what to do, or what to say.

The old woman clapped her palm to Cassandra's hand reassuringly, offered a gentle smile.

"It's OK." She reassured.

The group began into prayer and Cassandra, never having been formally religious, listened to their words and tried to not only understand, but believe.

She soon got distracted by loud voices rising up from the group just a few aisles over as another heated discussion began up. She began to shift her weight, to go to stand, but the elderly woman kept her grip tight and shook her head slowly and softly.

"The men will deal with the worldly issues, dear. We are looking to God to give us the guidance we need."

Cassandra remained still, trying to listen both to the women around her and the men's voices rising up. She heard discussion about the shelter, and imagined that the new argument was whether or not the group should head towards Chicago; over an eight hour drive.

"It looks like a damned war zone!" The voices called. "Look at all those people!"

Cassandra heard emphatically pronounced words like 'die' and 'survive', but could not make out the entire rest of the conversation.

The group with her ended their prayer and the old woman glanced with her warm smile towards Cassandra, gently touching her chin with her shaking, wrinkled palm. With her other hand, the old lady put her pendant into Cassandra's grasp.

"You hold on to that, Dear. Let it support you through this." She shook her head slowly. "It's such a shame that our beautiful children have to experience this."

Cassandra pursed her lips but said nothing. Slowly, the old lady pulled out a bottle from her large purse, and a thermos. She filled the mug to the brim with 'the blood of Jesus' as she called it. She raised it up and her words, soft as silk, and filled with emotion, bit into Cassandra's heart.

"Dear Jesus, although your reasons are a mystery, we follow faithfully in your footsteps. You died for our sins, and soon will call us back Home. We drink from this chalice, with your blood to wash us clean. Amen".

She sipped from the mug and passed it clockwise around the group, each woman drinking from it after saying a brief prayer.

Cassandra did not understand each woman's language, but imagine much of what was said was the same. The woman to her right passed the stainless steel, insulated thermos to her and her hands began to shake as she took it.

Cassandra looked to her left at the old woman who was still smiling at her.

"I don't …. I don't know what I'm supposed to say."

The woman nodded calmingly; Cassandra found it a little hard to process how the group could be so calm and peaceful.

"You don't need to say anything. Just praise Jesus, take a sip, and say Amen! This will all be over soon."

Cassandra pondered the woman's word for a second and glanced around the group as the women stared at her, smiling comfortingly. Hands shaking, and not really certain about her own actions, she raised the mug towards her lips and paused.

"I'm…uh…I'm not…" Cassandra put the mug down, and started to get up. "… really thirsty."

As she pulled herself to her feet, the woman clutched her hand tightly, gripping so hard she could feel the woman's fingernails digging into her hand.

"You will burn in this Hell, child. You will meet the Devil face to face. You will know suffering and pain. Your salvation is here."

Cassandra ripped her hand away hard, nearly pulling the old woman down just as Lewis appeared around the corner. Shaking and tearing up, Cassandra headed to him.

"What's going on? You ok?"

She smirked and raised her eyebrows, not exactly sure if she was alright anymore. She pressed her hands to her face, trying to quell tears as her hands trembled. She pulled herself together after a moment and took a deep breath.

"Do we have a plan now?" She asked.

Lewis looked at her for a moment as though he might answer, but his eyes drifted from the group of women behind her, all staring at her, to the remaining people still surrounding the television.

He lowered his head and said nothing; he didn't have to. It was obvious by his look that he was going to organize the group to head to Chicago, and clear that he did not think it was a good option.

"We can't go there," Cassandra whispered to him softly. "All those people, they're going to die if those things... There'll be too many of them …"

He raised his eyes and looked at her with certainty. "I know. But we can't stay here either."

She fell quiet for a long while, not finding anymore sleep that night.

The pair sat amongst the others, mournfully watching the screen that represented their own demise. A small timer nearby chimed. The noise broke the bitter silence in the massive space and caused many people to jump. One person hurried to the sound to shut the alarm off.

"It's five a.m." He whispered as he turned the clock off.

Cassandra did not even realize how much time had passed. It was still dark outside and there had not been a single shriek or hiss or the slightest hint of anything lurking in the darkness throughout the whole night.

Somehow though, a fearful worry seemed to settle over the group as they quietly started to get up and get their belongings together. Five gasoline containers sat waiting nearby, ready to be filled.

As she organized herself, Cassandra rounded the corner to head to the restrooms with another woman. The pair came to a sudden stop before the six women from the prayer group, all sleeping soundly in the middle of the aisle, just a few rows down.

"We should help them get their things," Cassandra said softly to the woman next to her. She slowly approached the sleeping group and knelt before the old woman who had given her the pendant.

Cassandra gasped.

"What's wrong?" The woman asked as she, too, approached and Cassandra looked up at her.

"They're all dead!"

Cassandra's eyes shifted from each woman in the group to the thermos of wine still sitting exactly where she had left it, undisturbed, and she took several deep, tearful breaths as she realized what would have happened had she drunk from it.

She got up, filled with fear and anger and anxiety, and quickly strode away from the dead women. When the pair finished in the bathroom, Cassandra ran water over her face for several long minutes as she stared at the pendant in her hand.

She could not help but think of what the woman's last words were to her, about the devil she would come to face in this living Hell called Earth.

She could understand why the women wanted to leave, but at the same time, the fire inside her told her to continue on, even if the end was uncertain.

The girls returned to the group and Cassandra grabbed up her bag without a word. Lewis and Carlos glanced at her warily. She had noticed the bodies were now covered up. Lewis looked worried and relieved at the same time as he glanced to her then around to the rest of the group.

"Alright, let's…" He started, but was cut off quickly.

"Does anyone else hear that?" A tiny voice asked from a meek looking woman.

The group held its breath in unison and strained its ears to listen for any noise that the woman might have heard. A very distinct banging far off in the distance filled the air.

The sound was muffled and vague, but it was easy enough to recognize as heavy weapon fire; tank blasts.

"No! Don't!" Lewis whispered to several people who began to inch their way towards the door of the building.

Most of the cluster stopped, but three curious people continued forward. With tense anticipation the rest of the group watched as one man crept down the aisle, past the display shelves and clothing racks.

He would stop and stare and listen to the distant blasts before continuing closer towards the door. In a short while Cassandra could just barely see the man's head over the racks and checkout counters that blocked her view of the front doors.

She could see him stop at the windows beside the glass doors, move some of the newspaper that had been taped up over the glass, and peer out. The two other men approached the doors and pried them open.

Lewis stepped to the front, rifle quivering in his grip, but he pressed forward, with the other two soldiers tiptoeing in behind him. The group watched and waited silently with their eyes intently focused on the door. No one moved or made a sound.

Suddenly the door slid open once more and the man came bolting through in great haste. He ran down the aisle to the group as quickly as he could, a look of great excitement on his face.

"I think there's a battle out there! Tanks! There's a helicopter!" He exclaimed as he caught his breath.

An excited murmur filled the air and the group was suddenly ready to venture out into the fog and smoke of the early morning darkness after a chance for rescue. Slowly they began to move out of the building, the soldiers taking the lead and flanks of the group.

Cassandra held a position just behind Lewis. They headed out into parking lot and stared off in the distance. Tremendous explosions rang out and the blasts from the tanks cast a momentary bright orange light above the tress which highlighted the smoky haze that loomed in the cracking early light of dawn.

The group headed off quickly, Lewis and the other soldiers quickly broke out into a jog, Cassandra followed closely, but some of the others tagged off in the back, reluctant to leave the building, or unable to keep up.

Every few blocks the group would halt for a long enough moment to allow for those that could not make pace to catch back up. Cassandra watched the helicopter circling around just ahead of where they rested. The massive explosions were growing louder as they jogged nearer to the battlefield that was raging in the distance.

"Do you think we can make it?" Cassandra whispered breathlessly to Lewis.

Lewis stayed silent, but nodded his head. His eyes were pointed up, following the helicopter in its orbit. Each time it circled, it seemed to fly closer to group.

Cassandra nodded back to him and they started off once again at a jog. They jogged down the road past businesses until they found themselves in a residential area. Lewis veered to the left down a side street, following the sights and sounds of the battle beyond.

He kept watch on the helicopter above their head, waiting for a good moment to try to flag its pilot down.

The soldiers in the group scanned the empty houses that lined the streets for any signs of the nightmarish assailants that they feared might be lurking nearby. The street seemed void of any life at all.

Though some of the homes had lights on in a few windows, Cassandra doubted that any of the homes were currently occupied. Parked cars sat in the driveways of the pleasant homes.

There were no crashes or bloods stained vehicles filling the streets. Without the sounds of the battle in the near distance, the street would have been a pleasant, silent, and still road in suburbia.

None of the houses they passed looked disturbed in anyway, as though the people living on the street simply walked out of their homes one day and left them as they were.

The helicopter circled one more pass and hovered over the group. A secondary light shone down upon the cheering and howling people that were jumping up and down and waving their hands above their heads, excited that they had been located.

Lewis and other officers raised their hands trying to signal the helicopter with the rest of the group. The chopper veered off the side then swung back over the group of pleading people.

"Evacuate the area immediately. This area is off limits." The voice yelled to the streets below over a speaker.

The words caused even more of an uproar from the desperate souls below awaiting rescue. They pleaded for help even louder.

Perhaps the second, more fierce attempt would make the pilot recognize that they were deeply in need of rescue. Cassandra shouted at the top of her lungs, hoping for help to come.

The man over the speaker responded one more time in the same careless monotone voice.

"Evacuate the area immediately. This area is off limits."

The helicopter left the group and zoomed off once again over the tree tops, back to the cannon fire. Undeterred, the group sprinted down the street after the helicopter, closer yet to the sounds of the battle. They cut through a yard and into a giant open field past the edge of the subdivision.

"Evacuate the area immediately. This area is off limits." The voice yelled to the streets below over a speaker.

The blasts of the tanks shook the ground as Cassandra trotted through the grassy field. She cast her eyes sideways at the large in-ground swimming pool in the community courtyard of the subdivision.

Its hourglass-shaped white tiles around the pool glistened pink with blood-dyed water from the swimming pool. Her eyes only barely registered on three bloody bodies floating in the pool. She quickly turned her eyes ahead, glancing up once again, tracing the helicopter in its path over the trees in the distance.

Lewis, in front of her, slid to a halt so abruptly that Cassandra, still focused on the helicopter, slammed into his back. He lurched forward slightly and quickly recovered and crouched to the ground.

A massive blast shot off from a tank only a few hundred feet from them. Cassandra slapped her hands to her ears and dropped to the ground behind Lewis' lead.

She turned her head in the opposite direction of the bloody pool and saw a tank rolling into the field behind the subdivision.

The rolling hillside that backed up to the once well-tailored rear lawns of the properties along the street sloped gently to a lake surrounded on three sides by a thick forest of trees.

Another tank was making its own path through the crushed trees along the lake's west bank. The light of the helicopter scanned over the trees along the far shoreline.

Cassandra squinted and strained her eyes to see through the thick smoke that billowed from the cannons of the two tanks. She could hear the loud echo of a third tank, but could not see it's location in the woods on the far side of the water.

"Dear God," someone whispered from behind Cassandra.

The sight was almost surreal. Cassandra felt shaky and lightheaded for a moment. It seemed to her as though she was staring at the view from somewhere in the clouds, somewhere that she was not involved, somewhere where nothing was real and would not hurt her. The remainder of the group crawled forward and crouched behind Lewis and Cassandra.

"We have to help." One said.

"What good are we gonna do?" Another questioned.

"We have to try," a third said shakily as another tank blast rang out, causing everyone to flinch.

Before the ringing in her ears had even died off, Cassandra saw Lewis and the other officers jump up and charge forth. Lewis's mouth was wide as he screamed at the men, but Cassandra could not make out his words.

Cassandra and the rest of the group that crouched in disbelief watched the brave soldiers face their biggest fear and run towards their inevitable deaths. For a myriad of the hell-spawn monsters had suddenly overtaken the land at the base of the soft hill, near the lake.

The tanks blasted as frequently as they could, but Cassandra could not tell if they were even making a dent in the numbers of the monstrous creatures. Where one animal would meet with the cannon fire, it seemed ten more were there to take its place.

The animals were on top of the two tanks that Cassandra could see within seconds, biting and clawing at the armored bodies, desperate to reach the people within. The swarm of animals seemed to be unaware or unconcerned about the group of onlookers crouching against the grassy hillside.

They did notice, however, notice the group of people that were running all out around the rear of the nearest tank. The men opened fire and for a moment the sounds of their weapons crackled against the whining of the tank treads as the armored vehicle moved forward and blasted off another shot over the lake and into the trees, while simultaneously crushing two of the deadly beasts under its treads.

One of the animals atop the nearest tank noticed the group of officers. Cassandra watched it lift its evil head and jut out its smaller inner set of jaws. The thing then leapt forward at the small group of officers and armed civilians.

One of the soldiers immediately turned on his heels and fired at the leaping monster. Cassandra watched in horror as she watched the man fire at the animal. The thing's head exploded from the close range gunfire, sending a spray of acid in all directions.

Three men in the group yelled out in horrified pain before they dropped to the ground as the acid that hit their heads and faces and seared through their skin and skulls, killing them slowly.

Some of the acid had back splashed and hit the tank as it rolled by the group. From where she watched, Cassandra could suddenly see a growing hole in the back of the vehicle.

Its turret whirred around and fired a blast once again before another swarm of maddened animals climbed atop the armored hull.

With the weakness in the body, the creatures, attracted to the hole, stuck their faces and clawed fingertips inside the hole, almost as though they were trying to rip the opening even wider. The men inside tried desperately to get the animals away from the weak spot.

Cassandra could hear them shooting, which only caused more acid to wash down the rear of the tank, opening the hole even more, allowing the animals to slip inside.

Cassandra watched as one carcass fell to the ground and another of the great black creatures clattered over the top of it, unaffected by its brother's acid blood. The thing heaved itself inside the tank and suddenly the tank stopped rolling.

The sounds of the men screaming and firing from within the heavy walls echoed through the cool air. Two more creatures filed in through the hole in the rear of the tank just behind the first one. The sounds of the frantic people within quickly faded and the tank moved no more.

Paralyzed with fear, the group merely watched the rest of the scene unfold. As the creatures, successful in their destruction of the people within one tank leapt back out, they ran full force towards the other tank.

Cassandra followed them with her eyes while also trying to find Lewis in the fray.

Suddenly, she saw him, with one of the monsters rounding on him from the far side of the tank. It tore towards him with tremendous agility, half running, half leaping.

It jumped over two dead animals, and landed directly on the top of the still tank. Lewis shot his rifle in the direction of animals that were charging down the second tank, never noticing the first one.

Cassandra almost had not even realized she was running towards him. It was like everything was happening without her being aware, as though it was all occurring from somewhere outside her own reality.

Cassandra reached for her gun, and ran towards the animal on top of the tank. Lewis spun around hearing her screams and three shots rang out from the gun suddenly.

Without ear protection on, Cassandra found the sound of the weapon deafening, and her ears suddenly pinged and physically hurt her. The animal toppled over dead and Lewis smiled in shock at her.

"Good shot, Cassandra." He said durning a brief moment of calm.

Shaking, Cassandra dropped the gun to the ground and knelt partially over, putting her hands on her knees, suddenly feeling sick.

"Luck. Thanks."

"Luck?!" Lewis smiled and picked up the weapon while putting his hand on her shoulder.

"Don't you mean to say that you had an awesome shooting instructor?"

She smiled and managed to form a soft chuckle as several people ran down from the group and moved in behind them.

"You both OK?" Carlos asked quickly, habitually scanning them for injuries and any medical issues.

They nodded.

"Look!" Someone in the group pointed out and Cassandra's eyes followed her gaze towards the lake. The surface of the large lake was moving, rippling.

It looked almost as though it had sharp mounds of black volcanic rock emerging from it. She could feel the ground shaking and the water whirred and whipped like it was caught in a vortex.

"The water…" Someone in the group whispered in shock. "It's draining."

They watched in stunned horror as the raging water of the surface of the once pristine, manmade backyard fishing paradise suddenly was overtaken with spiny protrusions and tails, as a shrieking swarm of deadly serpents rose up from the underground while the water drained down through the very hole the animals emerged from.

Cassandra scanned to the far end of the lake, looking for the helicopter that had been circling, and waiting for the lighting strikes of light that would flash from the third tank's cannon periodically. The trees along the far side of the lake were dark, silent.

The remaining tank, with three of the animals still on it, fired repeatedly at the water. The light from the helicopter shone down onto the surface and lit up an unimaginable scene. Too many of the mighty creatures to count were swarming from the muddy hole in the ground to the tank on the edge of the shore.

Suddenly, the trees on the other edge of the lake rattled and cracked with such a fury that Cassandra was sure the other tank was coming through the woods to the rescue. Instead, the tree line broke down to reveal one of the animals, massive, heavily armored, and tremendously agitated.

"Oh my God." Lewis whispered.

"It's the Queen Bee." Someone in the group said with a shaking voice.

As tall as the trees themselves and probably three times as long from head to tail, the massive creature towered over its larger-than-man offspring. The thing had a heavily armored plated head that reached back from its long, slim skull and formed foot long spikes. Its jaws alone were larger than a human head.

The creature ran on two massive hind legs, with two more, smaller arm-like protrusions off its torso. It looked like a running, hissing rendition of a tyrannosaurus rex skeleton, hell bent on killing all who stood in its way.

As the massive creature joined the onslaught into the water, it whipped its huge tail behind it and struck into a large pine tree.

The force of the impact from the long spikes that lined the creature's massive tail splattered the thick trunk into splinters and the tree crashed forward into the mud pit where the lake once was.

The group of animals showed no concern at all, not for the tree, nor the tank that they were heading to in haste, but they certainly gave their large mother room to pass. The animal hissed wildly, furiously declaring herself the winner of the war.

The tank fired once again and the helicopter zoomed overhead, its light shining down on the massive animal. Athletically avoiding the fire of the tank, more of the smaller of the animals were easily able to climb on top of the vehicle.

The machine was piloted backwards, as though trying to retreat from the battle. One of the eight foot tall black animals that had been attempting to crawl up the back of the tank managed to get its tail caught under the tank's treads as it pulled backward.

The creature was quickly pulled under the vehicle. As its hard black body was crushed under the treads, the blood from the animal seared a massive hole into the ground and the tank lurched off to one side, trapped in its own hole, with no treads on the right side as the swarm of animals overtook the top and sides of the immobile armored vehicle. Desperate, the men inside continued to fire off rounds.

"Lewis!" Cassandra finally gagged out a word through a hoarse throat. "Lewis!"

He pulled his eyes away from the incomprehensible scene and glanced at her. She was staring directly at him, as though trying to funnel out all that was around her. She did not say anything more, but kept a definite 'what do we do' look on her face.

Lewis turned to the group and quickly scanned the only remaining members who had weapons. Besides himself and Cassandra, only two more of the nearly thirty people were armed. He indicated with his hands for the unarmed people to pull back.

Without argument, the rest of the group promptly took to their feet and bolted as quickly as they could away from the battle. Cassandra and Lewis crouched and watched the desperately losing war at the water's surface, just a few hundred meters away.

"We can't leave the group defenseless." Cassandra whispered.

Lewis looked between the four people, the group running for safety, and the faltering tank. The helicopter overhead zoomed off suddenly and disappeared out of sight. The whirring of the blades soon dissipated under the sounds of the hissing and shrieking of the monsters.

After a moment's hesitation, Lewis headed towards the tank and towards the gigantic monster shrieking and calling her death howl. Cassandra followed along with a handful of others, weapons at the ready.

The small group took aim, noticing one panicked officer emerging from the tank. He saw them first, and gave them a wide eyed stare before he turned his head around and noticed the sea of black serpents coming towards him, running through muddy pit where a small lake once was.

"Stop! Wait!" Lewis said suddenly startled.

The group halted and Cassandra audibly gasped, holding her breath as she held still and looked around.

"Do you hear that?" Lewis whispered.

As she strained her ears, all Cassandra could hear was the closing animals, and the officer in the tank thudding down on the far side of it, away from the horde.

"No.. what…" She paused, suddenly, because she heard the noise, too. Her head immediately turned upwards towards the sky. "What is that, Lewis?"

Lewis's voice was calm, whispering, and eerie.

"That's a bomber. RUN!"

Without a moment's delay, the group turned on their heels and ran as hard and fast as they could. Casandra only barely noticed the young officer from the tank, splayed on the ground as he clumsily fell off the side of the thing, suddenly try to get up.

She only barely heard the hissing of the Queen, and the shrieking of her minions. She had spun and run before she saw the animals swarm the young man and incapacitate him. Cassandra had thought she had run hard and fast before, but it was nothing compared to this moment.

As the sound of the plane overhead drew closer, she thought her heart was going to jump right out of her chest while she sped along with the others as they bolted for any form of cover they could find.

The explosion rocked the subdivision, bringing down houses and blasting out a shockwave that launched Cassandra and the others into the air and sent them flying. Cassandra landed in a row of bushes on the far side of the street she was approaching when the furious explosion caught her mid-stride.

She coughed on dust and smoke and dirt, and could barely see. Her ears shot with a deafening high pitched sound and she collapsed to the ground as she tried to stand, cutting herself on shredded wood, glass, and metal all around her.

She wasn't sure how much time passed before she could interpret the world around her more clearly. Dazed, she started to look around and allow the scene to slip into focus.

She saw Carlos approaching her quickly; he was shouting, but she wasn't sure what. She glanced around, barely standing upright and noticed a man nearby that had been flung into a tree. He was torqued and bent as only a man with a broken spine could have possibly been.

Cassandra gasped for air and hung her head. She did not realize how badly shaking she was until Carlos grabbed her forcefully, trying to steady her.

"Come on, we've got to go!" He said to her over and over until she understood his words.

He spun her around facing the house behind her. The windows and door had been blow inside. Lewis was standing in the doorway, waving his arm, signaling people to get inside.

The group ran through the house, out the back door, across the yard, through the back gate, crossed the back alley and ran through a side passage between more houses until they came to another street, then another.

They moved as quickly as possible through street after street, pushing forward while making sure no one got left behind, until finally it seemed no one alive could travel any further.

They pulled to a halt, too many blocks away to count, many of the group, including Cassandra dropped from exhaustion in the middle of the empty street, and rustled through their belongings for water and bandages. Carlos tended to injuries as soon as he could stand enough to do so.

Cassandra rolled onto her back and stared at the stars as she fought to breathe. For a long while no one was able to speak, however, once the first few people began to fill their lungs, whispered turned to tears which turned to anger which turned to shouting and fighting within minutes.

Cassandra shut her eyes trying to block out the sounds of the men fighting. One would yell to another about holding the group up while some screamed at shouted at Lewis for leading them into such a mess in the first place.

"This isn't getting us anywhere!" Lewis finally howled. "We need to stay together and keep moving if we are going to stay alive! We need to get to that safe zone."

"In Chicago?!" Someone else said exasperatedly, as though the whole concept was terrible. Cassandra couldn't help but to agree in silence; it did not seem like a good idea.

"And how are you're going to take us there? We don't have a truck!" One man snarled back.

"I'm not _taking_ you anywhere. You can follow me, and we will get there. We will get through this."

There was no more arguing after that. In fact, there was very little talking at all. Several women talked amongst themselves while the weary group walked through the vacant streets after a long, mostly silent rest, but most of the men stayed utterly silent.

Lewis did not talk as he walked down the streets. He did not slow for Cassandra, but did try to make sure she was still following. After a few blocks Lewis strode through a gas station towards the small convenient mart. The door was unlocked and he swung it open.

A few moments later he returned to the group that had stopped in the lot and waited for him. He walked out, looking down at the map he was unfolding.

He stopped under a street lamp and unfurled the map completely. Some of the group hovered around him as he fingered their current location and the most direct route they needed to take.

Others loaded up with bottled water and any food they could find that was not rotten. Without arguing any further, the men in the group discussed the details of their route.

Unwilling to tolerate any disputes, frustrated with the disastrous results of every encounter with the animals, and visibly fearful, Lewis took an unquestioning tone with the group as they navigated the map.

His words were sharp and quick to settle any different opinions between the many chiefs that had deemed themselves worthy to lead the group to safety.

With no further questioning or discussion from any member of the frightened group, they set off on their destined course. Lewis strode down the street staring straight ahead as he cradled his gun around his should and under his arm, fingering the shaft readily as his eyes scanned the streets while he walked.

They stayed under the street lamps and walked briskly and quietly through the vacant town. Cassandra halfway wanted to talk to Lewis but she could not find any words to say to him.

He seemed angry and frustrated while the rest were scared and tired, and his tolerance of their situation had seemed to meet its limit. Tears dripped down her cheeks as she pursed her lips and forced herself forward.

The scenery changed in the streets from homes to businesses and back to homes until finally they reached a vast stretch of highway outside of town.

There was no sign of any life at all, not even a stray animal roamed the empty streets, nor a bat flittered across the night sky. There was not a breath of wind in the quiet summer roadways, and only vacated cars and trucks dotted the highway for some distance with no sign of any drivers inside.

Cassandra glanced into the vehicles she walked past as Lewis directed the group onto the highway. She wished he would just have them get into the cars and drive off.

Her feet ached and her eyelids weighed her whole body down. She was hungry and exhausted and could not shake the terrible images of the battles and deaths she witnessed from her mind. The giant Queen stomped across her brain like a demon of death.

She could not comprehend the large creature and all the questions that had been asked months ago about the origin of the animals surfaced once again in her mind. Part of her realized that knowing where the animals had come from was quite irrelevant, but still, the nature of human curiosity played on her senses and she occupied some of her quiet walking time by delving into the possible origins of the alien monsters.

Cassandra had always loved animals, though she only had a cat when she was younger. She had taken riding lessons for a few years, and competed in horse shows.

When Cassandra thought of an _animal_ , the images that filled her mind were of gentle, furry, loveable creatures great and small that were a little dumb and wanted only to have human companionship and love. It almost seemed like an insult to animals to call the black monsters animals.

She knew many people referred to them as insects instead. _Some insect,_ she thought.

She thought about the hive that Lewis had described, underground below the streets of Philadelphia. He had described to her, in as much detail as she could tolerate listening to, mummified human and animal corpses woven into a resin web that covered the walls and ceilings of the great vaults of century old train tunnels long since abandoned.

From all that he had said to her, Cassandra thought that the creatures did seem to act like some kind of insect crossed with a spider, rolled up in a satanic black hide and filled with blood equally as deadly as the creature itself.

They built hives, migrated in swarms, but also roamed out individually when necessary, all in the pursuit of hosts to use for reproduction.

She had decided after some time pondering the species in further detail, that even snakes and spiders and cockroaches were far more suited to the term animal than the monstrous black creatures. To her, they were not animals, nor insects, they were just death and teeth and claws and acid blood.

Cassandra decided that she liked wasps and hornets much better and there was just simply no Earthly comparison for the terrible creatures. They had either shot up from the pits of hell or they truly were from another planet.

That idea opened Cassandra up into a whole world of unfathomable complexities that she had no desire to endeavor into. Her weary mind began to turn funny and the sights all around her melded into one. She vaguely glanced around at the group.

Each person was tiring rapidly with every step. Many wore long faces displaying their own signs of the great suffering and torment that each had been dealing with for the last two months. Lewis had slowed his pace, but never turned back to evaluate the group.

"Hey man," finally someone called out to Lewis. "We've got to stop."

"It's been hours, we're all exhausted." Another agreed.

Lewis slowed to a crawl and glanced over his shoulder at the first man. He shot the man a terrible look as if angry that he had spoke out of turn and interfered with Lewis's plans.

But, as eyes scanned over the group, comprised of all ages of women and men, and saw their tired faces, his eyes softened slightly and he came to a stop. As the group halted, many people sat on the concrete divider between the traveling lanes, savoring a precious moment of rest that they had not been able to take for the last several hours.

Lewis lowered his eyes as the group stared at him awaiting his decision.

"Alright," he finally said, bobbing his head.

He glanced along the highway. Lewis watched the clouds pass over the moon and glanced from the cars around them to the buildings just off the nearby exit ramp.

He allowed his own tired eyes to adjust to the glowing lights that illuminated the nearly empty parking lot and the food stores within the buildings just beyond the exit.

When he was fairly certain there was no movement from the road, trees, building, or cars and trucks in the lot, he glanced back to the crowd and spoke again.

"We'll rest here then until the morning. Let's go."

The group sighed a wave of relief. They had walked as quickly as they could, trying hard to keep up with Lewis for many long hours.

Carlos had spent his time doing his best to help the others in the group along and cope with their injuries while walking quickly so as not to be left behind.

Fit and trained, the distance and duration was far less noticeable to Lewis's body, however many of the others took their quick break panting and curled over gripping their sides. The promise of rest helped the group find a second wind. They started off at a quick pace down the entrance road.

Twenty miles felt like half the country to Cassandra's feet. She was ready to kick off her shoes and soak in a hot tub with some aromatic bath crystals, shut her eyes, and relax for the next week and a half.

As she walked with the rest of the group up the entrance road, however, her peaceful thoughts of a spa setting were violently ripped from under her eyelids.

Lewis led the group through the parking lot for smaller vehicles, avoiding the few larger eighteen wheelers that could offer a better hiding spot for a lurking creature.

The smaller lot was nearly empty. Only four vehicles were parked neatly between the lines. As Cassandra neared them, she glanced through their windows.

The first car was empty, but its driver's window was smashed. There was almost no glass on the ground outside the vehicle's door. The second car, on the other side of the lot had the back window tinted and she could not see in.

As she stepped into a different light, however, she realized that the window was actually pasted red with dried blood. She could see the street light above shining through spotty holes in the rear window.

She squeezed her eyes shut and quickly turned her head away. As she opened them again, she found herself staring at the other two vehicles as some others in the group made horrified comments while they peeked through the windows.

Both vehicles, parked next to each other, contained the remains of their passengers. One had two adults together in the front seat, the other, a family of five.

Mother and Father seemed to be locked in an eternal state of fear as they both stared into the back seat where their three children were slumped over. Each person in both vehicles had a contorted look of terrible pain and fear etched onto their still faces as they felt the violent last moments of life before the hellish offspring of the face hugger creatures burst from their chest.

The vehicles were scratched up on the outside, deeply gashed as though they had been run over by a large, sharp taloned creature.

Though Cassandra could not imagine, or did not want to imagine, the details of what must have had happened here, she knew enough to hope it was long since over and the hellish monsters were now gone hunting somewhere else.

She felt a rush of security wash over her as she slid into the building with the group, although she was not truly sure why. No building seemed to be able to stop the creatures from penetrating its walls, no matter how secure it may have seemed. However, shelter was shelter, and with it came certain rest, which the group very much needed.

While some of the people made themselves at home in the main dining area, stretching out on booths and tables or setting their feet up on the chairs, Lewis, Carlos, and a small band of brave others, scoured a small perimeter inside, and only returned once assured that there were no threats.

Quietly, the group settled down for their much needed rest.

The warm smell of eggs cooking filled her nostrils before she had even opened her eyes. Cassandra felt as though she had just gone to sleep and now already some of the group was preparing a breakfast feast. She rubbed her eyes and sat up from the bench she slept on and glanced out the window. The sun was up, shining brightly through the windows.

"What time is it?" she asked groggily as she yawned.

"Nine thirty," someone answered.

"Hey, Cassy?" Lewis called to her softly as he walked up to the booth she called home. "How you holding out?"

She smiled, happy that he was once again showing concern for his fellow travelers. "I'm OK, are we going to keep going?"

Lewis nodded.

"Do we have to walk?"

He smiled and sat next to her. "If we can find a vehicle big enough for all of us, we'll drive."

She grimaced, but did understand. Splitting the group up into multiple smaller vehicles would not be a good idea. She hoped they could find a suitable vehicle soon, because she did not want to walk more with a group of frightened people and few weapons either.

"Are there any working trucks here? We could take a truck and trailer." She suggested hopefully.

Lewis and Carlos both shook their heads. "Only trailers."

"How long would it take us to walk to Chicago?"

Lewis sighed, "Well, I was hoping we could travel faster, but at the rate we're going..." His voice drifted off for a moment as he calculated his response. "A week maybe? Ten days…assuming we walk with as little resting as possible. Maybe we'll stop again tonight,"

"Oh Lewis," she cut him off, "we can't walk that far, we'll get killed."

"We have to try. We need to get to that safe zone. It's the only one we know about."

"Well, maybe we should split up and take cars."

"We should stay together," Lewis insisted.

"Why? That's not going to keep us alive, is it? They'll kill us in big group just as quickly as in a small one," she began to cry. "What are these things anyway? This is unbelievable! I just want this to stop! When does this stop? When can we all just go home?"

She sobbed, succumbing to panic and fear that had been welling up inside her since so long ago in New York City. That life seemed so distant now, it was almost like it never even took place. Her life was different then, different now, and nothing seemed that it would ever be the same again. She did now know how much more she could tolerate or survive.

"Alright, calm down Cassandra, just breath deeply and try to relax," Carlos said softly.

"No!" She exclaimed loudly, catching the attention of many people around her. "I can't do this! I cant' live like this! We can't go on like this!"

Lewis and Carlos tried to quiet her down. Those nearby cast her glances but did not offer to help or speak any words of consolement. Their eyes just filled with the reality that all had been trying to ignore. Finally, Cassandra shot off into the restroom and sobbed to herself within a stall.

When she was calmer, she crawled out of the stall and stared at herself in the mirror. Her face was beet red and her eyes were still wet and dripping.

She started the water in the sink and watched it flow down the drain as she reached around to the back of her dirty and torn jeans and pulled out the Baby Eagle Lewis had given her. She set the gun on the counter and evaluated it and herself in the mirror.

She could not find the solace she was looking for in the steel barrel. Just before a small group of women walked into the restroom, Cassandra quickly shoved the gun back into its hiding place and washed her face and hands, grimacing as she walked off without saying a word to women she passed.

The group was ready to leave before eleven in the morning. Lewis stood at the travel stop's doors and waited until all had gathered and they set off once again, returning on their Westerly heading towards Chicago.

They walked for what felt like hours on the silent highway, sometimes seeing a glimmer of a light in a window, or a flicker of a shadow in the distance.

Under-armed, injured, and exhausted, the group did not stop to investigate.

While they did encounter a small group of weary and wary fellow travelers after just a few hours' walking, who joined them on their journey, the group remained on the highway, and pressed on.

Just before nightfall, a highway sign overhead declared that Chicago was still 115 miles away.


	16. Chapter 15

**CHAPTER FIFTEEN**

It was five o'clock on Friday morning, the last day of August when the weary group approached the city of Chicago.

Though they were exhausted and weak by the time the city skyscrapers came into view, they found a renewed sense of hope as the city drew nearer and signs of life, the first in days, were beginning to take shape. It did indeed seem that the creatures had not migrated towards this part of the country.

The monsters had first appeared along the West, South, and East, and although they spread like a disease across the entire planet, it did force uncountable millions from their homes and send them migrating towards the safety zones.

While Lewis led his group along highways and past many empty vehicles, some collided and some sideways or rolled over on the sides of the roads, the highways around Chicago as far as Cassandra could see were jam packed with perfectly aligned vehicles, all empty, as though everyone simply abandoned their cars during a major traffic jam.

One travel lane on the entire highway was completely void of cars and large, handwritten signs were propped up directing pedestrians to the safe zone. The guard rail was lined with pictures, telephone numbers, addresses, personal belongings, and a myriad of hastily written "have you seen me?" signs.

The weary group walked faster, feeling excited for the first time in days. It did not take long before Cassandra could see a vast migration of people flooding into the city, carrying with them all that they could. As the group was directed via spray painted wooden signs down an entrance ramp, they quickly hit back end of a group of refugees waiting for their opportunity to enter the safe zone.

A massive military perimeter was erected all around the city. Cassandra glanced to each side and saw a line of military vehicles and soldiers, heavily armed, directing the people into the safety zone.

"My God," Carlos muttered under his breath.

Cassandra's excitement quickly fizzled and any hope she had about the safe zone at all, which wasn't much to begin with, was gone.

To her, it looked like less of a safe zone and more like an over-crowded last stand of the human race. The sounds of people from inside the walled off zone was almost deafening unto itself. Cassandra could hear voices talking, singing, shouting, talking all buzzing together filling the early morning air. Armed guards from every branch of the military patrolled every inch of the perimeter in pairs.

Cassandra gripped Lewis's shoulder shakily as they were pushed and shoved in the massive crowd waiting at one of the entrance gates.

Hundreds of people formed massive lines all around her, each clinging to their families and possessions, desperate not to be separated amongst the crowds.

As Cassandra walked through an underpass that was covered in spray paint and "missing" signs, and came out onto the city street, she watched hundreds of soldiers filter the massive crowds into half a dozen separate lines onto different streets that led to the buildings beyond.

The line of tanks and jeeps and transports created a makeshift wall down the street as far as Cassandra could see.

Very quickly, Cassandra was hustled off into one line while Lewis greeted several officers that had approached him, shook hands, and was directed off to a different location.

He turned back to her for a moment and smiled as reassuringly as he could although he looked worried as well.

"Lewis!" Cassandra called to him in a worried 'don't leave me here' tone.

"It's alright. I'll meet up with you inside, okay. Go ahead."

Cassandra did not feel comforted by his words. Looking around at the crowd of sobbing, desperate people, she highly doubted Lewis would be able to find her in between the many buildings of the safety zone.

She looked over her shoulder and saw Carlos trying to fight to stay on his feet as fearful people continued to push and shove to get to the entrance that much faster.

"Carlos!" Cassandra called to him.

The two were able to get to one another before a soldier filed them off forcibly into one line.

"You ok?" Carlos asked.

"Uh-huh," she murmured quickly. "You?"

"Guess so," he shrugged.

They stayed next to each other as the line moved forward slowly.

When Cassandra got a clear view of the little opening between two vehicles that served as entrance number six to the safety zone, her eyes grew wide. Guards were forcibly searching everyone that entered and she could see people fighting for their weapons. Her hand slipped unconsciously to her waist and groped the butt of her only weapon.

"Cassy?" Carlos turned to her as he pulled on her arm. She refused to budge.

She kept her eyes locked on the guards searching people for weapons. She felt more vulnerable now than ever before as she and Carlos slowly approached the check point. Silently, she considered her options.

"Carlos, I can't…" She started to whisper to Carlos.

"What are you doing?" Carlos insisted. "We have to go in."

"I don't want them to take my gun," Cassandra protested in a nearly silent whisper.

He nodded and looked around, clearly contemplating their options.

"We have to go in," Carlos said grittily.

"I know... I know... I just..." she started.

Suddenly, someone from behind her pushed angrily forward then hopped around her as she stepped to the side to let others pass. A fight quickly broke out as the armed man tried to make a dash for the entrance gate. Several soldiers, diverted by the fight, left an opening that numerous people tried to run through.

"Come on!" Cassandra said quickly, yanking on Carlos' arm and quickly weaving her way through the crowd.

Several people took advantage of the lack of security and charged in. While many soldiers did their best to stop the small crowd to check them, Cassandra shot through quickly and bolted down the next two blocks, Carlos in tow.

They ran into the safe zone and darted around a corner, the guards still too busy stopping a mob fight that they were unable to stop half a dozen people who ran in as a group. Cassandra and Carlos headed off quickly in a different direction.

"I just..." she started to say, but as she rounded the corner onto the street, her words drifted off.

Although she had seen the reports from the safe zone, actually being inside one was a totally different feeling. It was like nothing she could have imagined.

The wide four lane street was absolutely jam packed with people and belongings. Sleeping bags, mattresses, bed sheets and pillows, even piles of clothes lined the streets. People were stacked together like sardines in a can.

They huddled together all over the streets, and on door steps of overcrowded buildings, they slept on the piles of clothes, even cardboard and garbage. Buildings overflowed with people, and almost every window was either open or smashed out.

There was minimal electricity, enough to light strings of street lights and keep some lights on in a few buildings, but it was obvious by the amount of people hanging out windows, fanning themselves, that there was no more comfort to be found inside than out on the street.

It would be impossible for Lewis to find them in all of this, Cassandra was certain. She and Carlos walked in shock along the streets, staring around trying to absorb the sight. Carlos instinctively evaluated almost everyone he saw for medical needs, and within a minute began rattling off conditions and injuries he noted.

"I've got to see what medical resources they have available." Cassandra shot him a wide eyed look. "These people need help."

Cassandra found it far too difficult to adjust to. She wanted the peace and quiet of solitude and as she looked around, her feelings that coming to the safe zone would be anything but safe were confirmed.

Soldiers carrying machine guns patrolled the streets on foot, keeping tabs on the population. One solider glanced at Cassandra and she lowered her eyes to hide from him, certain that he knew that she had snuck past the entrance check point with her gun still hidden at her back.

She and Carlos turned down an adjacent street and wandered the next row of buildings .

The sights along each street and alleyway and in every building was the same. The safety zone was packed, and as Cassandra and Carlos scanned the zone from east boarder to west border and halfway back again, they could not seem to find a decent place to rest in all of the thirty block radius.

The evening soon drew near and at each end of the safety zone a dinner food line was forming.

Cassandra and Carlos, having not been able to catch breakfast or lunch, filed promptly into the dinner line and waited for three hours before they got to the food truck. As with everywhere in the safety zone, soldiers kept order at the food stations as well, watching over the crowds to be certain no fighting broke out.

Eyeing the armed men as she took her food, Cassandra felt her spine tingle. The hard looks on the soldiers' faces offered no sense of security at all. They did not look protective, or even at comforted by being within the walls of the safe zone.

She thought they looked ready to kill anyone that stepped out of line, and she began to wonder exactly which animal was most dangerous.

She and Carlos took their rations in a paper bag and hustled off to at least find somewhere to sit and eat. They walked back through the crowd, past several more officers and turned back towards the south entrance gate where they had last seen Lewis.

"I don't want to be here," Cassandra whispered to Carlos as they walked.

"Well, I think it's the best place we could be right now." He said promptly, tearing open the stapled top of his grab bag of food.

"Really?" Cassandra whispered in a shocked tone.

"I do. There's plenty of protection here. We're safe enough until they are able to stop these animals."

"Carlos, do you _really_ think they will stop them?"

He stopped mid bite and shrugged towards her. "Of course. You know they're bombing."

She gaped her mouth but said nothing. She did not share his optimism.

She slunk to the ground and ate her food in silence while staring up and down the street hoping to spy Lewis. They dined quietly as the night fell.

Unable to find a good sleeping spot, Cassandra and Carlos pressed their backs to each other on the street curb and slept sitting upright.

In the morning, a chime rang off at about seven o'clock, indicating that breakfast time had arrived. Cassandra and Carlos quickly walked off down the street, trying to file into line to get the morning meal, however, when they had reached the food station after one o'clock, even lunch rations had been depleted as well.

"Come here," Carlos said, eyeing some soldiers near the food line after a disappointing wait for a meal.

"No, Carlos, no…." Cassandra protested, but he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her along with him.

"Uh, excuse me gentleman… and lady," he acknowledged the officers before him. "I'd like to offer to help."

The officers stared at him in silence. Cassandra watched with wide wary eyes. Carlos paused briefly and then fidgeted in his pockets for his medical ID badge.

"I...uhh… I'm a doctor, and I noticed how many people here need medical attention."

The officers remained silent, eyeing Carols and Cassandra with a disinterested look.

"This is my…. my nurse, Cassandra Reynolds. I'd like to speak with whoever your physicians are."

"Sir," one of the officers finally spoke up after a long, awkward silence. "Thank you for the offer, but we have all the support staff we need. Everything is under control. Just remain calm, find yourself a good place to rest, and we'll be out of here soon."

The curt speech sounded almost robotic. Carlos opened his mouth to protest, but Cassandra pulled him away.

She did not believe the officer's words for a moment; the response sounded so scripted that she could only conclude they were ordered to tell people the same thing, or they really did not have any clue what was going on. She was concerned the response was a little of both.

Cassandra followed Carlos, who was frustrated by the response, down the streets as he asked every person he saw that appeared sick or injured if they had any medical supplies of any kind.

For the next week, Cassandra did whatever Carlos told her to as he worked to help people. They quickly learned the best places to wait in line for food, and at least managed to eat one meal a day.

At all other times, they raided the buildings all around them for any type of medicines, everything from Advil to antibiotics to bandaging materials.

By the end of seven days, Cassandra had been covered in blood, vomit, and bodily fluids she did not want to process. She watched elderly die in their beds of starvation and they had found numerous dehydrated corpses. Everyday people died of stabs and disease.

Cassandra and Carlos had fallen into a routine, she realized one day. They would grab their morning meal as quickly as possible, walk the perimeter looking for Lewis, then head into the main district and try to tend to medical needs as best as they could.

They knew which buildings to avoid due to gangs protecting their own, and they knew which buildings were the least touched of all.

They had worked out the best way to travel efficiently and as safely as possible, but they were running out of any kinds of medical supplies.

It did not take long for the optimism about a quick end to the infestation to die. They no longer received any news, any iota of a hint of what was transpiring beyond the gates.

One popular past time many people living within the slum conditions of the safe zone had was to camp out on the many roof tops available to them and watch the vacant distances beyond the city in all directions.

They would look for signs of life, signs of what direction life was headed, signs of the end of the battle.

People did find comfort in the fact that there seemed to be no hordes of alien monsters anywhere within sight that binoculars and telescopes could offer.

While many thought that no news was good news, many more reminded the rest that no news was simply no news.

There were still new fires visible, new explosions far off in the distance with flames that would reach miles into the sky, and black smoke that would rise up for hours.

Most of the fires started late at night. Sometimes anyone watching would see an airplane pass far overhead, most of the time, they did not, so people theorized that a massive ground battle was still under way.

Each and every person in the safe zone seemed to cling to whatever hope they could to keep them going; Cassandra wasn't quite sure yet what her hope was.

New people arrived almost every day, pushing an already overstressed area beyond its limits.

Each day, Cassandra watched hopeful refugees of an alien battle no one understood be whisked into the fenced-off zone and look around with shock and astonishment while they still clung to hope as tightly as they did their belongings and families.

It took but a few days for the hope to fade, for starvation to set in, for fear of dying trapped in a filthy slum to become the new reality.

Military officers patrolled the perimeter streets, but were vacant in the main district.

Cassandra wondered how many more soldiers there could possibly be in all the military in all the world to allow for a war on the outside while keeping the chaos to a minimum on the inside. She wondered how many other safe zones there were just like that one, or if they were the last of an entire population.

Along the perimeter of the safe zone, guards worked hard to keep order around the clock. Food lines formed twenty four hours a day, many people sleeping in line at night hoping to get breakfast. It did not go unnoticed that meal sizes were shrinking while the population of refugees creamed into an area a fraction of the size of Lower Manhattan, was growing.

A plague of a different sort spread within the borders of the safety zone, and Cassandra watched its progression alongside Carlos.

It was a madness that swept over the people. Over the first few days after Cassandra's arrival, she could see the disease that was taking hold of the population.

At first glance she thought the majority of people within the border of the zone were just depressed, fearful, and feeling helpless, very much as she was.

However, by the time a few days had passed, she had absorbed her environment more fully and began to understand that she was looking at many people clinging to their last ounce of sanity from many long weeks, even months inside the camp.

The walls of every building in the zone were plastered with the same sort of signs that had decorated the guard rails on the way in to the city.

Many cardboard barricades that covered windows of the buildings also had scribbled words upon them as their creators hoped they would run into lost loved ones that had found their way to the shelter.

Telephone numbers were spray painted everywhere, however cellular phones were no longer working. People sat in the streets, some clutching photographs, some holding their families, and everywhere she turned, Cassandra saw only a fading hope.

Many theorized and wondered, but in reality, no one knew what was going on beyond the perimeter; only that in the visible distance, there was nothing. There was no life, there were no alien monsters, there was no sign of battle.

That, at the very least, offered some comfort.

Cassandra huffed and chuckled softly herself as she searched through a pile of mostly clean looking clothes thrown into a street, trying to find anything that would fit her so she could change out of days old, blood covered clothes.

"What is it?" Carlos asked.

She held up a t-shirt to check for its size.

"I wanted to be a fashion designer. Seems so stupid now. I wanted to make high end clothes for the fashion industry, and now," Cassandra said with a detached tone, "here I am scraping the streets for used clothes because I'm covered in other people's blood."

Carlos stayed silent as Cassandra sobbed softly.

There was nothing to say. She gathered up a change of clothes and stayed with her as she found a dark nook to change in. He put his back to her, watching the streets all around vigilantly.

They went on again, heading out of the main district of the safe zone and slowly making their way towards the perimeter once again.

They heard a scream echo and tried to figure out where it was coming from. No one else even seemed to look up. Carlos and Cassandra stalked through a back alley cautiously and came across a bleeding and beaten naked girl.

They moved in to help her, and Cassandra squeeze her hand as the girl sobbed.

"We have to get out of here," Cassandra said through a teary gaze as she held the rape victim's hand while Carlos helped her ass best as he could with his own dwindling supplies.

"Where is Lewis? We need to find him and we need to leave."

"I don't know. I don't see how. They'll shoot us if we try to sneak out; you've seen that."

Carlos was right. People had been shot for trying to leave, but Cassandra did not want to stay within the confines of the hellish place.

She decided, as she clutched a crying girl younger than she, that she preferred dealing with the attacking hordes of deadly animals over the cramped and dangerous situation inside the safe zone.

"Hey, yo! What've we got here?" A voice interrupted her thoughts.

Cassandra and Carlos looked up to see four men approaching. They stalked smugly towards them, cackling and laughing.

They carried what looked like shivs. Carlos stood up between the men and Cassandra and the young girl.

"I didn't say we was done with her." One of them said looking down at the sobbing girl. "But…uh… thanks for bringing us another fine piece of tasty ass."

The group laughed. Carlos stepped forward; Cassandra stood up, hand reaching to her back.

"Now, look," Carlos snapped. "Just back off."

The men laughed and spit at Carlos. One of them punched him hard and he dropped to the ground with a gasp. They turned on Cassandra and she pulled out the weapon.

"Stop! Stay away from me."

They stopped in their tracks and smiled with an unconcerned look on their face. They could see Cassandra's hands shaking, but she stood her ground.

"I'll shoot." She warned as one of the men strode forward.

"Where'd you get that, Babe? You tough enough to actually use that?"

Cassandra clenched her jaw. She could feel her heart pounding in her throat.

She glanced for a split second towards Carlos who was pulling himself up off the ground and the man used the fraction of a moment diversion to lunge at her.

Cassandra screamed and struggled with the man as the rest of the gang moved in. The gun went off.

Cassandra wasn't even sure if she had pulled the trigger or not, but the man fell backwards, gasping and gurgling. In a second, he collapsed on the ground, blood pooling from his chest and out of his mouth.

He gagged and choked for a few seconds and fell silent as the gun clattered to the ground next to him.

Carlos stood up, Cassandra dropped to the ground to grab for the weapon. The other men in the gang ran off.

"Not a safe place at all, is it?" A voice said to Cassandra.

She lifted her eyes and found herself feeling very tiny as she eyed two men approaching, armed with baseball bats.

Underneath their dirty skin and ruffled hair, they looked like at one point they could have been businessmen wearing expensive imported suites and driving high class cars on their way to their big city job.

The two men stood awkwardly close to Cassandra and stared intently at her as one reached down towards her.

She felt like a little child suddenly and just wanted to curl up and cry. She held her breath and pulled back, her hand landing on the gun immediately

"You okay, there honey? Don't worry," he laughed casually, "I'm not gonna' hurt you."

"Just making sure you're okay," the other said softly.

She watched their eyes look her up and down from head to toe. Her heart pounded so hard it was hurting her chest, and she tightened her grip on the weapon.

"Don't talk much do you?" One man said with a smile while the other grabbed for her and the other girl.

"Hey! Back off!" Carlos yelled, approaching from behind Cassandra, finally on his feet.

"It's alright man, it's alright." One of them said as he held his palms out. The other man helped Cassandra and the other girl to their feet.

"Thanks," she whispered.

"I didn't mean to scare you. Are you alright?" He said apologetically.

She nodded quickly.

"You better keep that tight on you," the man said, eyeing the gun Cassandra still clutched. He slipped his own shirt over the young girl as casually as though it was something he did every day. "You'll need it in here."

"I can't believe this is what the world is coming to." Carlos shook his head slowly, muttering.

"It's all we have." Cassandra whispered.

"What?" Carlos said, tipping his head as though straining to hear her words.

"Nothing."

Suddenly a great commotion stirred up in the streets behind them.

Carlos and Cassandra whirred around to see what was going on. Almost as routine as lining up for food or restrooms, was fighting.

It appeared this time that three men were fighting with four more. The men jumped onto each other, shouting and yelling, cursing at each other and throwing punches. One man dropped to the ground and was kicked by two more before others jogged over to break up the fight.

She was not sure what the fight was about, and did not particularly want to know. She sighed and lowered her eyes as the fight was quelled and turned to walk away.

Carlos watched the man that had been kicked pull his bloody torso off the ground, gripping his side, and limp off.

Carlos and Cassandra brought the young girl out in another direction and Cassandra found some clothes for her. She sat in silence and said nothing for hours.

After a long while, a sobbing woman, shouting in a language Cassandra did not understand came dashing over grabbing for the girl.

The girl got up and was quickly hustled off by the woman, who Cassandra could only assume was a mother, aunt, or someone familiar at the very least. The girl obviously understood the woman's ranting sobs and had no problem being hustled off with her.

Cassandra knew what was driving the people in the zone mad.

It was not being crammed into a tiny, strange area. It was not even the fighting for a place to sleep, or the squabbling over food. It wasn't even the crimes or the deaths.

She decided it was not even the loss of all that they had known that was causing the savage ache within the hearts of all the people.

She stared down to the ground sadly as she thought about the madness. It was the hope that was killing them all.

She suddenly felt as though the safe zone truly was the last stand of the human race. The hope that everyone clung to, was lost.

There would be no freedom from the walls of the safe zone. Cassandra had the unstoppable sinking feeling that the safe zone was to be mankind final holdout.

She sat on the sidewalk at an empty space Carlos watched her keenly. He too seemed to share in her thoughts and they sat and quietly discussed the future way of life.

It was a depressing subject. Her mind filled with thoughts of returning home and finding it magically pieced back together and all that she knew was still there waiting for her return.

She sighed deeply as she realized that would never happen, and her thoughts drifted back into her conversation with Carlos.

She stared up at him and then saw a small group of military striding through the street. Her eyes shifted and her face brightened.

"Lewis!" She exclaimed in an excited whisper.

Carlos swung around as Cassandra popped up off the group and called to Lewis again.

From the street, Lewis turned upon hearing his name. He smile widely and darted towards his friends. Cassandra threw her arms around him and he held her for a moment then shook hands with Carlos.

"How you doing? You guys ok?" He asked with great concern.

They nodded half heartedly.

"Doing as well as can be expected." Carlos said quietly then asked, "What's going on out there?"

Cassandra smirked, halfway not caring and not wanting to know, and halfway certain she was not going to like the answer Lewis could produce.

Lewis raised his eyebrows and tipped his head. He cast his eyes around to be sure no one was close enough to overhear.

"Truth is I don't know guys. My orders are just the same as every one else I've met. We're to keep this area secure."

"Secure from the bugs, or from each other?" Cassandra said crisply.

"Both," he said with a sad sigh.

"Jesus," Carlos whispered. "They're not even trying to fight the creatures, are they?"

Lewis nodded, "Yeah, they are. I've heard they're dropping nukes. I don't know how true it is, but that's what I've heard. They are bombing, though."

True or not, the news did at least offer some hope for a return to the world. What would be left of the outside world when the population was allowed to return back to it was questionable at best, of course, but still, to hear Lewis talk about what he knew and had heard, was the most amount of comfort that Cassandra had heard in a long time.

"I'll let you know if I find out anything more." Lewis assured them both.

They walked slowly together as Lewis maintained his patrol and discussed the way of life inside the zone.

"Just be careful in here, okay. Stay sharp and stay together." His eyes shifted to Cassandra. "You still have what I gave you?"

She nodded quickly and silently and shifter her eyes around. "How can we find you again?" Cassandra asked quickly.

"Let's pick a meeting spot and time." Carlos suggested.

The trio decided on the best place and time to try to find each other and they agreed to meet there as often as possible to check in with each other and be sure they were all alright.

Lewis promised to try to have updates as often as possible. They would also meet in the designated place in the event of an emergency.

Feeling much better after seeing Lewis and discussing their plans, Cassandra walked with Carlos quietly through the packed streets as they separated from Lewis who returned to his duties. They searched around for a place to rest and eventually settled in on a flight of stairs at the side of a building.

"Great," Carlos muttered as the skies opened up with a heavy rain.

They did not get much sleep on the stairs that night. They stayed awake mostly watching the lightening light up the sky and the thunder clap over their heads while the rain poured down.

Sometime during the night a cold wind picked up and Cassandra and Carlos huddled together for some warmth.

Fall was quickly approaching and the weather would soon turn chilly and eventually cold.

Cassandra wondered as she waited in line for breakfast the next morning, how the people would fare trying to survive in the streets during the winter, or if it would even come to that.

She shrugged those thoughts from her mind quickly and decided that the war would simply have to be over soon so they would not have to lead that particular life.

On day number ten inside the safety zone, Cassandra and Carlos headed to the meeting place and waited for Lewis.

The safety zone had very few luxuries, if any at all.

One of the few things still working in their favor was limited electricity powering lights. Inside buildings many other luxuries like refrigerators and microwaves were still being used, draining the sketchy power daily.

Many of the apartments buildings had been cut off from the power grid by vandals or military, Cassandra had heard both, and really did not know, and fights for a warm meal in one of the few buildings that still had working power were common.

Suddenly, the power went out.

It was nearly evening, and a sudden darkness washed over the myriads of people in the district.

An uproar cried out, and Cassandra and Carlos could hear people screaming and yelling from several blocks away, in the direction of the entry sites.

Great hordes of people already inside the zone mobbed towards the sounds of the shouting and yelling, while others that were lucky enough to have been able to nestle inside the many buildings, stuck their heads out of the windows and watched down the streets.

Carlos and Cassandra were tempted to go off and see what the commotion was all about, but they stuck to their plan and waited for Lewis. Nearly half hour later, Lewis showed up, red in the face and nearly out of breath.

His eyes were wide and he hurried over to them.

"Sorry," he said shakily.

"Lewis, what's happened?" Cassandra asked.

"Things are going south, I think. In… in a big way." He responded.

"Why? What's going on?" Carlos questioned.

"They've ... they've closed it off." Lewis said slowly.

"What? Closed what off?"

"All the entry gates. The safety zone is being locked down." Lewis confirmed.

Cassandra eyed the panic at the gates.

"How can they do that? What about all the people on the outside?"

Lewis shook his head. "I don't know. There's a huge fight... Listen, I've got to go back, I just wanted to make sure you're okay."

He gently placed his palm on Cassandra's worried face.

"But..." Cassandra started. "Lewis where are they going to go?"

"Listen, it's going to be alright, okay. Just stay around. Stay out of the mob. I'm sorry I've got to go."

He turned his back on them and headed off towards the gates once more. Gunfire rang out as Lewis disappeared around the corner of a building down the opposite street and Carlos and Cassandra stood there staring, too much in shock to even move.

They simply watched as hundreds and hundreds of people began to swarm into the safety zone, pushing and fighting and cutting into the fence as more gunfire rang out.

Soldiers ran back and forth up and down the streets trying futilely to keep control of the situation. Beyond the gates, where Cassandra and Carlos could not see, Lewis and a large unit of soldiers following their orders forced the onslaught of outsiders away from the entry gates.

It took two days for the raucous to settle down at the gates. Desperate people unwilling to be sent away fought for their right to enter, but were forced away by an unbudging line of soldiers and mobilized tanks.

Cassandra and Carlos stayed near the meeting place and waited. They missed several meal times and simply huddled together and slept on the street corner, waiting for Lewis to find them one more time to update them.

When he finally appeared, his face was long and low. He looked filled with guilt for what he had done, frustrated that he had no choice. Cassandra cast him a wary glance as he walked up the street towards them.

"Lewis?" She greeted him.

He kept his eyes low and barely said anything to either of them.

"What is it?" Cassandra questioned. "Tell us, please, what's going on?"

He shook his head. "I've heard..."

Carlos walked next to Lewis and placed a hand on his shoulder. He could feel Lewis shaking and helped him to sit down on the street curb. He swallowed and tried to find his words once again. Cassandra lowered herself to him.

"I heard today... that...that..." he took a deep sigh. "The bugs... they've gotten into two safety zones."

Cassandra and Carlos exchanged quick glances and she dropped her eyes to the ground.

"Where?" she asked.

"One was in California, and the other was in Missouri."

"The same will happen here." Carlos said after a moment of consideration.

Lewis nodded. "They're out numbering us big time out there."

He looked around the streets at all the people and whispered in a lost tone. "I don't know how much longer any of this is going to last."

"But...what about dropping those nukes?" Cassandra whispered.

"There's so many of them, they can breed in just about anything. So one nuke would take out one hive, but there's God only knows how many more hives to replace that one with.

They've been bombing certain areas, but there's just too many of them and not enough resources to fight them with. There's too many of _them_ , and not enough people."

"It's like... these things.. . they just multiply so quickly and they kill everything." Lewis started.

"And each time one is born, it means one more person has died." Carlos continued.

"We're not safe here. When those things come, we'll all be killed. If not by them, then by the panic that's going to arise." Lewis confirmed.

"All those people that were trying to get in here, we've sent them off to their deaths...and everyone knew it." Lewis said guiltily. "They knew those people would die out there. They know the people in here will die, too."

They fell quiet for a long while and thought about what to do next. They considered leaving the safety zone right away, just the three of them, sneaking out, but Lewis had a duty to perform, and he knew they would be caught and shot.

None of the three could think of where to go. The bugs were undoubtedly heading towards the safety zone. With fall coming on strong, the weather turning wet and cold, the dangers of the inevitable approaching hordes of bugs was not the only threat to survival anymore.

It seemed they truly had no option but to stay where they were doing what they were currently doing, and hope for the best. They stuck to their regular plan.

If anything were to happen, they would meet in their spot and figure it out from there. So, Cassandra and Carlos parted ways once again with Lewis, who had to return to his duties. He pulled himself off the street side and slumped away sadly.

Cassandra and Carlos wove through the streets towards the forming dinner lines and waited quietly for nearly two hours before they were able to get a meal.

As the next two days passed, the cool winds of the city of Chicago picked up and blew through the streets. It rained on and off and just finding a spare blanket or an extra jacket was proving to be almost impossible.

Carlos sat on a curb and stared at a draining puddle on the street as the rain poured down onto the two of them.

"It's all over, Cassandra," he said despairingly.

"Are we just waiting here to die?" She crouched next to him. "Is that it? I don't want to die, Carlos. There has to be another way."

"Everything we know is gone. It's all been taken away."

"Carlos, you..." Cassandra started, but could not decide what to say, so she fell quiet again and watched Carlos slump over the street side miserably watching water disappear down the drain.

"You were right. This isn't how it's supposed to be." He continued on. "Everything is gone, and soon, we will be too. And for what? Nothing."

Cassandra pondered his words for a long while as he continued to rattle on about things he told her she would never understand, about losing everything that had taken a lifetime to achieve.

She truly felt she was sitting there at a loss, simply waiting to die. She looked around at other, soaking wet miserable people and imagined that they all very much felt the same. They waited in cold, wet darkness with almost no food, slowly going mad, waiting to die.

"Listen," she finally said as the rain poured down on her head.

"I've lost things too. I had plans. I had big plans. I didn't even get to live them out, but that doesn't mean it's okay to give up. I don't want to sit here and wait to die. This _will_ end. I can't believe this all happened for just nothing, and all we're supposed to do it just sit here and rot. Is that what you're going to do? Let me know so I can leave you to it then. I want to live."

He stared up at her miserably.

"No, you're right... really you are."

She smirked and crouched down to him once more.

"Look, I understand. I mean, when I graduated from high school, if you had told me then that this is where I'd be today instead of in college, I would never had believed you. But this is where we are. I'm scared to death about everything that's happened and what these creatures are doing to our world, and how were going to pull through, but I tell you what I'm even more scared about..."

She silenced herself for a moment and Carlos looked at her.

"Dying. I don't want to die." She smiled softly. "I'd rather live through this shit than die. It's not much of a choice, but it's the only one I can make right now. There's got to be a reason for all this, _some good_ has to come out of this. We just need to live that long."

Carlos smiled and cracked a crisp laugh. Cassandra joined him for a moment as tears welled up in her eyes.

"Oh God," she sighed. "I'm soaked. This really sucks. Let's go try to find something to put over our heads, okay."

Carlos agreed and they both stood up. The street light above their heads suddenly flickered back to life for a fraction of a second. A sort of silence swept over the street, and while all heads turned upwards towards the lamps, a crackling sound filled the air over the noise of the pounding rain. The lights flickered again, twice and flicked back off to the renewed moaning of the people.

"What's going on? Is the storm doing this?" Cassandra whispered.

"Oh, it's because of a storm alright," Carlos suspected. "Just not a weather storm."

A great grinding sound echoed through the silent dark streets followed by a harsh thumping sound that vibrated the buildings. Suddenly lights flickered back to life in a few buildings along some of the streets.

"Back up generators." Carlos said quickly. "If they run too long, though, they'll die out too."

"What's too long?" Cassandra wondered.

"A day or two, maybe three."

"Great."

They found shelter for the rest of the night and by morning power had still not returned fully. Three days later, the lights died again, and somewhere in the middle of the night, the darkness was permanently cast. Lewis met with them the following evening on schedule and Cassandra immediately asked him about the lights.

"I thought maybe it was getting better, like we'd have power again."

"No one has power. It's all out." Lewis responded morbidly.

"Here?" Carlos asked eyeing their immediate surroundings.

"Everywhere." Lewis whispered.

There was a pause while Cassandra and Carlos tried to absorb what they were being told. Lewis continued on after a moment, filling in the silence.

"We've lost all communication, all power, with everyone, everywhere."

"Do you think the bugs did this?" Carlos asked.

"I think we did, with the bombings." Lewis suspected aloud.

"So now it's pouring rain, fall is coming, the bugs are pressing on, and we have no power." Cassandra totaled. "Great! Can this get any worse?"

"Don't ask!" Carlos chimed in quickly.

"Well, what do we do now?" Cassandra questioned.

"The same thing as ever, we just do it in the dark." Lewis stated.

"What are we doing exactly, Lewis," Cassandra retorted. "Now we have no idea what's going on out there."

Lewis lowered his head and stayed quiet. His eyes reflected the truth that he did not know what was going on outside in the rest of the world, but suspected that the battle was not going favorably.

Days passed and the cooler weather and sporadic rain kept on. Cassandra and Carlos stayed very much to themselves, for fear of being killed over something they did not even have in the first place.

They stood in the packed streets and watched fight after fight, and stayed as far away from the chaos as possible as people were killed in the streets for their blanket or shoes.

Cassandra watched one man walk past her, a knife sticking out of his side. He was rambling to himself, and she wasn't even sure if he knew he had been stabbed.

He came up onto the sidewalk directly in front of Cassandra and cast her a sharp look as she stared at him.

Perhaps he was just an innocent, frazzled bystander fallen victim, or maybe he was a perpetrator that got a taste of his own medicine, but the look he cast her was a threatening and hollow glare none the less. As he heaved himself past Cassandra, Carlos stepped in front of the man.

"Wait," he whispered gently and put his hands out in front of him.

"Back off man," the stabbed man warned.

"I'm a doctor, let me help you."

"Yeah, help, that's a laugh." He said as he pushed his way past Carlos.

"He wants to help me, can you believe that?!" The man said to someone who wasn't there as he laughed a terrible cackle.

Carlos tried to grab the man to force him to listen, he tried to tell him to wait once again but the man quickly turned on him, screaming at Carlos and before Cassandra could even register what was happening, the man had punched Carlos in the jaw and sent him flying down onto the sidewalk. A group around the two men leapt back, trying not get involved.

"Carlos!" Cassandra called anxiously. She wanted to step forward but was afraid to approach with the stabbed man still hovering over him.

"If that knife goes into your artery, you'll be dead in a few minutes," Carlos gagged over his own blood as he tried to upright himself.

"So be it then," the man growled and limped away.

"Oh God, Carlos! Are you alright?" Cassandra asked as she dipped down onto the sidewalk to help him to his feet.

He nodded as he watched the man limp away, leaving a trail of blood in his path.

"Come on," she said to him and helped Carlos off down the street so they could meet with Lewis.

Lewis could see the growing look of fear on Cassandra's face as the general temperament inside the zone became increasingly more desperate and violent. Carlos carried a tired look of concern on his black and blue face as he rubbed his jaw while Lewis approached.

Lewis looked surprisingly bright and uplifted.

"I've heard a report! Radios are still down, there's still no electricity, but we have Jeeps out there, and runners. I've heard that they haven't spotted a bug in days around here at all."

"That's great! Maybe we'll all get out of here, right?" Cassandra suddenly said with a glimmer of hope.

"Well, I think the next step will be to completely eradicate their hives. But I guess the bombings helped." Lewis told them. "I think there's going to be a lot of places that won't be inhabitable for a long time, but from what I've heard, it seems like we're winning finally."

The three sat together for a long while enjoying a moment of victory before the subject turned to life inside the zone without power again.

By the end of that evening with Lewis, Cassandra was feeling a small dose of optimism that she hadn't known in too many days to count. His reassurance that the war was turning into a victory for mankind helped her renew the hope that they would all soon be released.

She had forgotten about the darkness in the city for a moment, and as thoughts of returning to life as normal filled her mind, Cassandra almost forgot about her immediate surroundings.

Two days later, Cassandra and Carlos were lucky enough to get inside one of the buildings, and for the first time in weeks, they had spent the night on a real bed.

Though the mattress was dirty, and there were no bed sheets, leaving them to scavenge what they could find for covers, it felt so unusually good to finally sleep on a bed.

It seemed to Cassandra as she woke up the next morning that luck was changing and life was an upward turn finally. After many long months, she was ready to plan her return to home and start cleaning up the mess of her life.

Carlos rolled over and opened his eyes. He smiled at her, feeling very much the same way about life, even if for only a brief moment.

The sun was peeking in through the cracks between the mini blinds that covered the window. It looked like a bright and beautiful fall morning.

"How you doing?" Carlos asked of Cassandra.

"Fine, you?" She said smiling.

"That felt good," he said stretching.

There was no such thing as privacy in such a crammed place. So, the apartment on the eighth floor of the building was bustling with people. Cassandra and Carlos were simply lucky to be able to get to the bed before anyone else.

One man was sleeping in a big black leather chair on the other side of the room. His head was tipped and a little stream of saliva dribbled down his chin onto his coat as he snored loudly.

Down the short hallway and into the kitchen even more people mingled about chatting to one another.

There was some clanging and banging going on in the kitchen as though someone was rummaging through the cabinets looking for food. However, any last scraps of edible food in the apartment had certainly been long gone.

Cassandra could hear the voice of a man howling, though. He sounded very angry and she heard the distinct sound a wooden cabinet door getting slammed so hard it shattered the glass front.

"What's going on out there?" Carlos questioned groggily.

"I don't know." Cassandra responded. "Don't go out there."

A heavy thumping started down the hallway and Cassandra got the distinct impression that everyone else in the apartment had vacated suddenly. A man appeared in the doorway of the bedroom.

He evaluated the room for a moment then shouted so loudly Cassandra and Carlos both jumped and the sleeping man in the corner shot up like a rocket.

"This is my place! Get out! It's mine! Leave!" The man yelled at the top of his raspy lungs.

He was big man, with many cuts and bruises all over his face. His shirt was ripped in several places, his pants looked brand new, and he was barefoot.

He raised his hands up. One hand was shaking a fist at the three shocked people in the room. The other was yielding a very large knife.

The man howled again and darted forward, directly towards Cassandra. Carlos jumped off the bed and collided into the big man, sending him slightly off balance.

Cassandra and the other man quickly dove over the bed towards the door. Not wanting get involved, the third man ran out of the room and Cassandra could hear the apartment door slam open as he let himself out. Carlos was trying to free himself from the man with the knife.

He gritted his teeth and groaned as he kneed the man in the abdomen as hard as he could. The man howled as though excited to be playing such a fun game. He rolled off of Carlos slightly, then swerved back at him with the knife pointed down.

"Stop!" Cassandra yelled suddenly.

Both men looked to her. Her hands were shaking in front of her wide eyes and her chest raised and fell excitedly, but the gun pointing at the two men caused them both to stop. The big man pulled himself to his feet and smiled a partially toothless grin at her. Carlos heaved himself up slowly.

"Back off now, leave him alone," she said shakily to the man. "I don't want to hurt you. Please, just stop!"

Carlos pulled himself together and stood up. He warily began to walk to Cassandra with a tight grimace on his face.

"That's a big gun for such a little girl now, you'd better watch where you're pointing it," the big man taunted her, laughing. He seemed like he did not really perceive any danger, he acted like he was playing a game.

He took a step forward and Carlos stopped as Cassandra yelled at the man to stop once more. Carlos cast him a dirty look and the man smiled half crazed back at him. He quickly lurched forward with the knife glistening in the sunlight through the blinds. His arms wide, the man taunted them both.

"Boo!"

Carlos jumped and Cassandra flinched uncontrollably. A massive bang rang out in the room, nearly deafening her and sending her toppling backwards.

Carlos and the big man both dropped to the ground and for a moment, no one moved. Cassandra saw Carlos drop, and she cried hysterically, covering her eyes with shaking hands. She could hear people screaming in the building through the walls and even out onto the street.

Carlos pulled himself upright.

"I'm alright! I'm alright!"

Over the heavy beating of his heart, he quickly patted his own body down to be sure that he was not injured.

After a quick check that could still move all his appendages and his clothes were dry, he glanced to Cassandra who was sobbing on the ground, but seemed fine otherwise.

He gritted his jaw and turned to the big man with the knife, who was laying still. There was a trail of blood just over the man's left ear.

At quick glance, it looked as though the bullet had grazed the man's skull, barely hitting him. Carlos quickly pulled himself up and headed towards Cassandra.

She was still clinging to the gun, shaking violently. Carlos noticed as he passed over the downed man, that the bullet had gone through the middle of his forehead.

"Let's go, come on." Carlos said, pulling Cassandra away.

They ran down the hallway and headed onto the stairwell. He dropped to the ground at the top of the stairs and laid Cassandra back. She was beginning to pull herself together.

"Oh God," she sobbed over and over.

"Hey, Cassy, stay with me there girl, come on." Carlos requested of her.

"I don't feel so well." Cassandra sobbed, unable to pull herself to her feet.

"Just breathe."

After a long while, Cassandra started to slow her breathing and stop shaking so much.

"Your aim is improving," Carlos said softly. "Thank you for doing that. Twice now, I think, right?"

Cassandra smiled and huffed. "I can't believe this. I'm going to go jail."

"I doubt that, Cassy. I doubt that very much." Carlos reassured.

She supposed not.

They stood and headed into the corridor of the top floor of the building and found a quiet place to sit and wait until their meeting time with Lewis rolled around.

Nightfall came and passed slowly. The sky was cloudy, there was hardly a star to be seen, and lightening flickered across the thick clouds, but it did not rain or thunder. The darkness inside the safe zone made the night sky seem even darker than normal.

The next morning brought cooler temperatures. Cassandra and Carlos wandered the streets, trying to find any more layers of clothing they could wrap themselves in to keep warm.

That afternoon they met with Lewis again, and immediately noticed a solemn look on his face.

"What's wrong?" Cassandra asked worriedly, she was certain he was going to bring positive news today.

"I've been…. Uh… I've been ordered to mobile infantry. I have to head out in the morning, to… uh…" his voice was shaky and uncertain. "They are mobilizing us."

"What? You're getting sent away? To where?" Cassandra questioned promptly.

"I don't know. I guess to kill the bugs. I've only heard sketchy rumors. I think there's a hive or something nearby or something. I'm not really sure." He clutched his weapon tightly.

"I don't want you to go. You can't leave," Cassandra whispered.

Lewis smiled at her and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"I have to. If we don't kill these things now that we have a chance, we'll never even be able to claim our own planet back again. I guess there's supposed to be some kind of massive mobilization. It's not going to be just me and a couple guys. They're mobilizing everything they've got and getting ready to deploy in a massive sweep. We're going to kill every single one of them."

Lewis said the last three words clearly, harshly, and slowly with confidence, but Cassandra did not share in that confidence.

"We've been issued these new weapons. They call them the M-41A. They're powerful. Just what we need to kill these bastards."

"You gonna teach me how to use that, too?" She then questioned lightly.

Lewis and Carlos both chuckled.

"I think we'll leave that one for the pros, Cassy," Carlos jumped in.

She smiled, feeling halfway embarrassed that her aim was as poor as it was.

"Just hold out in here a little bit longer, okay Cassandra. When this is over, then..." His words drifted off. He gave her a longing look, but then started on his goodbyes. He kissed her gently on the cheek as they hugged

Just before nightfall, they were able to push their way into one of the buildings, but it was so packed full with people in every room that Carlos and Cassandra searched for over half an hour for a place to rest until they finally decided that it would not be possible.

"I guess it's the roof tonight," Cassandra said.

They rested quietly on the roof, and in the middle of the night, were stirred by a tremendous rolling noise.

"What is that sound?" Cassandra whispered.

"Those are tanks," Carlos said with certainty.

Dozens of people lined the rooftop, all eyes cast off in the dark distance as a small sea of spot lights began to appear.

Many soldiers were piled into the long streets in front of the safe zone, and though Cassandra's limited view was blocked by other people, she could see the halogen bulbs lighting up what looked like a small portion of a massive army.

Cassandra counted twelve tanks just in her little viewing space through the buildings across the streets.

Excited people whispered amongst themselves. Some believed that the final battle was about to occur to determine who claim the Earth.

Others suspected that humanity was on the losing side and this was all a last ditched effort to help keep alive what they could of the human race. The whispering discussions continued on for the next hour.

Cassandra wearily tried to continue to watch the line up, but began to doze off. Carlos sat next her, allowing her to prop her head on his shoulder while he continued to scan the darkness.

"What the hell is that?" Someone in the crowd said abruptly.

"What?" Another questioned.

"There, see?" The first pointed far beyond the military line up.

Cassandra opened her eyes as Carlos jostled her to wake her up. She turned her eyes on Carlos for a moment and noticed that he was staring at the pointing man, eyeing his finger and following the path with his eyes.

Cassandra did the same and squinted hard trying to let her eyes adjust to the complete darkness beyond the city limits, all along the highways and smaller access roads.

"There's movement, lots of movement." Someone whispered.

"Are those more tanks?" Cassandra said as her fuzzy vision focused on a massive force heading towards the city.

"No." Someone next to her responded with great fear. "Those are moving too fast to be tanks."

From the rooftop the people fell quiet. Cassandra glanced across to the other rooftops and noticed that everyone was on their feet, leaning forward trying to get a clearer view to define what they were seeing.

Suddenly a siren rang out from the military line up and the barking howls of a commander echoed through the streets between the loud blaring.

The halogen lights turned onto the streets and the massive whir rose up from the line of tanks as the vehicles were powered on.

Cassandra glanced down at the military effort and saw frantic soldiers running into their positions, taking to their tanks, their jeeps, manning their weapons. People on the rooftops and within the buildings began to scream and a massive cloak of fear covered the hold out.

"Jesus Christ!" someone on the rooftop said dramatically as she backed off and darted down the stairs.

Cassandra squinted once more into the darkness and focused on the movement. It took her a moment to register what she was seeing, and longer to comprehend it.

"Carlos," she said shakily. "We're dreaming right?"

"I wish we were."

Gunfire soon rang out as the black sea of dragons reached the perimeter of the city. Thousands of the massive beasts swarmed ever so quickly through the highways, under the passages, down side streets, and directly and fearlessly into the line of fire.

They scaled buildings as the swarm approached and leapt over some of the tanks. They showed no concern when one or ten of their brothers were shot down.

Their sheer numbers offered certainty that the creatures would get through the line. The streets began to smoke with weapon fire and acidic residue as pavement melted from under the army, and building weakened by both cannon fire and acid blood, collapsed.

Soldiers fired non-stop at the creatures and they lashed out with their tails, claws, teeth and extra jaws, slashing through the men's body protection as though it was newspaper.

The incredible panic that stirred inside the safety zone was tumultuous. Too frightened to move, Cassandra merely watched from the rooftop as hundreds, thousands of the terrible deadly creatures poured into the crowds of scared, defenseless people, killing or incapacitating them with ease.

The screams from the panic in the district echoed through emptiness of the abandoned city, even louder than the weapon fire and shrieking hisses of the monsters that poured over the city like locusts.

Many on the rooftops bolted to the fire escapes and the stairs, clambering down to their loved ones or their own freedom without any consideration for the person next to them.

Only a handful stayed silently crouched to the roof next to Cassandra and Carlos. Gunfire from within the safety zone began to fill the air.

The high pitched shrieks of thousands of terrified people filled the air accompanied by massive gunfire and blasts from the tank cannons every second.

Cassandra watched one of the terrible creatures scale a building across the street and push itself through the first open window it found, relentlessly seeking out its prey. People ran screaming out the building as yet more of the creatures flooded inside.

Glancing down onto the street, she could see the stampeding people, running away from the onslaught, trample down those too slow to move out of the way. She shut her eyes and shook.

Carlos clasped his hand onto her shoulder. She could feel him shaking as well. They both looked beyond the military barricade and saw a non-stop sea of the mighty black serpents rushing towards the city. Several of the tanks had already stopped firing.

Falling into the trap of shooting the creatures in too close of a range, the monsters acidic blood poured down onto the troops trying to stop them. The acid burned through the tanks, through the troops, and melted the blacktop of the streets.

There was suddenly a massive crunching sound and a vibration that shook the building Cassandra cowered on. She looked to the street where the tanks were lined up and saw one falling into a rift in the ground.

The acid blood of so many creatures that had been killed had burned through the pavement layers and caused a fault in the ground and one tank slid sideways into the hole.

The men inside tried to crawl out, but were quickly stopped by the swarm of creatures that ran over the tank as easily as one would step over a tiny stone.

The military effort put forth to stop the creatures was massive, but so were the numbers of the animal creatures. The battle almost seemed preplanned.

It was as though while the humans were planning a massive movement, figuring that the creatures were being depleted in numbers from their bombing efforts, the creatures themselves had planned a strategic fall back.

They knew exactly where the humans were hiding, and they swarmed together in enough numbers to properly invade and kill.

Cassandra wondered for a moment if they were truly intelligent enough to plan such an attack. Had the creatures truly cut the power, limiting the vision of their prey, and adding to the panic?

It seemed impossible to imagine a four legged creature so intelligent, but yet she could hardly refute the idea as she stared from the rooftop down upon a massive onslaught of uncountable numbers of hellish monsters.

The creatures simply kept coming. They split off once inside the city borders and invaded the buildings as though systematically eliminating their prey.

When Cassandra looked down to the street once again, she realized the creatures were not alone. Their egg-hatchling, face-hugging younger siblings had joined the onslaught.

Hundreds of people were laying in the street unconscious, with the sickly spidery creatures strapped firmly to their heads.

Feeling nauseous, Cassandra backed away.

"Carlos," she stared weakly. "We have to go! We have to find Lewis, we have to leave!"

Carlos stared off the edge of the building and pondered their best course of action. They were trapped, no question about it.

He glanced over the side and saw three of the giant black creatures gliding easily up the side of the building. They disappeared into the building through the windows.

Carlos could hear the sound of glass shattering and people inside screaming in a panic.

"They're in the building." Carlos whispered.

"What?" Cassandra said, shaking from head to toe. "Oh God," she sobbed.

"Okay," Carlos started. He breathed deeply.

"Shit, what do we do?" He whispered to himself softly.

Cassandra turned to face the door to the stair case. She was certain she could hear a thundering sound of feet rising up to the door, but she didn't know if they were human or not.

Suddenly the door burst open and a frightened swarm of people came rolling through. Cassandra shrieked, startled by the sudden movement, but she quickly quieted herself and turned back to Carlos.

"We have to get off the roof! We can't go anywhere!" He exclaimed to her and the group of people that had just joined them.

Out of breath, one man from the group panted to Carlos. "Those things are in the building!"

"I know, I know." Carlos said quickly.

He stared at the wide open doorway. It was their only way off the rooftop.

The other buildings were too far to jump to, and to try to scale down the fire escape would take too long. They were cut off.

Beyond the door was a stair well that led to the ground, but the stairwell was most likely infested with the hellish creatures.

The ground was nowhere near safer than the rooftop either, for a myriad of face hugging parasites crawled the streets, readily waiting to jump on anyone that crossed their paths.

Carlos turned once more to the highways and the military border. The defensive line that he could see was badly broken and the pressing swarm of creatures now rolled easily into the city, attacking freely the frightened citizens.

"Cassandra," Carlos said firmly, grabbing her arm and pulling her to her feet. "We need to get downstairs, get out of here right now."

She shook her head slowly, crying wildly, but an unwavering look on Carlos's face made her focus on the task at hand. She took several deep breaths and pulled the gun out in front of her, clenching it tightly.

With one last deep breath, she stepped forward with Carlos in the lead, through the doorway and on to the stair well. People behind her began to follow their lead, and they all descended the stairs as quickly as they could.

The shrieking of the beasts echoed through the corridors, accompanied by many terrified shrieks and very little gunfire. One small pistol rang out into the air.

Cassandra slid down three floors behind Carlos. They looked through the window of the door that led to the fourth floor of the building and saw one of the horrible black monsters turn its wicked head towards them from some distance down the hallway.

The thing spun around and shot after them like a cheetah. The group shot down the stairs as fast as they could. The creature hit the door so hard it depressed the lever to open it and the door swung open with such a force it nearly came off the hinge.

The creature lost its footing from the impact and toppled over the railing. It fell to the next level before it was able to catch itself and scale down the banister after the group of fleeing people. They shrieked and sped up, pushing into one another, desperate to reach the bottom level.

The creature was on top of the group in no time. One man at the back of the group gagged horribly as the thing's tail ripped through his chest and he was picked up and flung off as the creature leapt towards the next hysterical person.

"Shoot it!" Someone screamed at Cassandra at the top of his lungs.

Cassandra stopped in her tracks, wide eyed, staring at the horrible monster that had just killed two then three of the group on the level below.

Before she knew what was happening someone had jumped onto her, grabbing at the gun she held, trying to pry it out of her hands. She was frozen in fear and could not release her fingers from the gun.

People were screaming; it was all happening so fast. Carlos jumped into action and wrestled with the person that was grabbing Cassandra's hands.

"Shoot the damn thing!" The man howled.

"Cassy!" Carlos yelled.

She whipped around. Halted and defenseless, trapped on a stairwell between certain death above, and below, the group was easy prey for the creature.

Suddenly twenty became ten and the thing was practically on top of Cassandra. She raised the gun and barely aimed. Squeezing her eyes shut, she prepared for the weapon's back thrust and braced her feet widely. She pulled the trigger.

The bullet punched a fist sized hole into the cheap sheet rock wall that lined the stairwell and the creature, oblivious to the attempt made at stopping it, charged forth. Its tail whipped around and collided with one person, sending him crashing backwards into Carlos, Cassandra, and several others.

They all fell down the stairs. Frightened, Cassandra quickly fumbled the weapon around to the direction of the raging monster once more.

She did not hesitate in pulling the trigger. A little spray of acid splashed up from where the bullet grazed the long, sloped head of the terrible monster.

It shot out its inner set of jaws in defiance and shrieked. Cassandra pulled the trigger for the third time, and the bullet followed a course directly into the animal's inner mouth.

The thing released a high pitched whine and dropped to ground before it destroyed its next victim. Covered in blood and crying hysterically the woman that had been in the thing's grasp fell to the ground and dragged herself free.

Another satanic screeching filled the air as the people remaining in the group darted down the rest of the stairs.

They slammed into more hysterical people that poured into the stairwell from the second floor.

Cassandra glanced back up and saw more people running down the stairs from the level above. The creature's acid blood was burning a hole through every set of stairs from the fourth floor down, and people hopped over the thing's body and wove around the acidic dripping.

As some of the group in front of Cassandra pushed the door open to the street, they instantly fell backward into the group behind them, screaming from under the sickly mask of the face huggers, clawing at their faces desperately trying to get the things off their heads.

After a few seconds the people fell still and were quickly hopped over by the rest of the escaping crowds. Carlos pulled Cassandra to the left and they darted down the street as fast as they could.

"Where are we going? This way!" Cassandra yelled as she started across the street in the opposite direction of Carlos.

"No! We have to go!" Carlos yelled.

"Lewis! We can't leave without Lewis!" Cassandra cried and bolted towards the meeting spot as fast as she could.

She ignored the creatures scaling the buildings to her left and right. She kept her gun ready to fire, but she closed her eyes and barreled past the flood of people swarming in to her, desperate to get away from the creatures.

"Cassandra!" Carlos yelled from behind.

She glanced over her shoulder and saw Carlos bolting to catch up with her.

"Come on!" She yelled, not slowing her gait.

She wove around a corner two blocks away and bolted over fallen bodies with the face huggers attached to them until she could see the lamp post where they would meet Lewis.

He was not there.

She slowed down and eyed the streets around her.

Carlos caught up to her, panting for air. The wave of creatures had seemed to drift past them. She saw several on a building down the block, but the sounds of their shrieks were fading in the other direction.

The screams of panicked people filtered off to the opposite side of the safety zone as they bolted towards the rest of the city, desperate to hide and find safety as the creatures pursued them deeper into the district.

The smell of gunpowder and acid filled the air and burned Cassandra's nostrils and eyes. She walked two more blocks to one of the entrances to the safety zone and stared in amazement at the wreckage that had been left behind.

Burned out jeeps, thousands of serpent corpses, and hundreds of solider bodies lined the streets, covered by a myriad of weapon shells. Smoke still smoldered from some of the weapons and from the patchy areas where grenades had been launched.

"Oh God. Lewis!" Cassandra whispered.

Carlos placed his palm on her shoulder.

"Cassy, he probably didn't make it. We need to leave," he said with certainty.

She shot him a disbelieving glance and turned back towards the meeting spot.

He eyed the buildings all around them warily, but it did seem as though the massive wave of creatures had passed through the area and were now busy chasing the people through the city streets. Cassandra trudged around the corner and glanced up.

Lewis was standing under the street lamp, dual pulse rifles in his hands.

His face was bloody and his clothes were black from gunpowder, but he turned to her and smiled and darted to her.

He wrapped his arms around her, clattering the two guns together behind her back. She threw her arms around his neck and held just as tightly to him as she did the gun she still clenched in her fingers.

"Lewis!" Carlos whispered in shock.

He pulled himself from Cassandra and looked at the two of them and sighed deeply. Another terrible shriek rang out through the night air and was soon echoed back to by dozens more of the black creatures.

The three glanced to the buildings around them and stared quietly. Lewis cast his eyes onto a bit of movement he saw in the street behind Cassandra and pushed her off to this side quickly, pointed one gun and pulled the trigger.

The eight legged face hugger that was crawling quickly towards them was splayed into a million pieces across the street, its acid blood hissed as it melted through the ground.

"We need to go, now. This way. Come on." Lewis said.

He directed them to the military line of vehicles and they jumped into one humvee that had limited acid burns and claw marks through its body. Lewis started the vehicle up and drove away quickly, weaving through the corpses, driving over sidewalks and through grassy yards to avoid the acid burned roadways.

"They planned this, didn't they?" Cassandra whispered suddenly.

"Sure as hell seems so." Lewis said grittily.

"What are we going to do with hardly any weapons?"

"Oh, we've got weapons," Carlos said from the back seat as he stared into the vehicle's trunk space.

There were four large crates full of M-41-A pulse rifles in the back of the vehicle. Lewis drove on quietly and scanned the highways for any signs of life. Cassandra leaned back into the seat of the truck and sighed deeply. They were on the run again. She began to wonder if perhaps they would fare better staying in a small group and fending for themselves.


	17. Chapter 16

**CHAPTER SIXTEEN**

They headed South.

Lewis drove until he could not keep his eyes open anymore then switched out with Carlos while Cassandra slept through most of the ride. For the most part, the driving was easy going.

While many abandoned vehicles were scattered throughout the highways, it was easy enough to swerve around them. The path they were taking to a destination they did not yet know was sometimes blocked completely by crowded lanes of the highway, where jam packed cars, mostly all with fender bender damage to them, were simply left in the roads.

Carlos took to the wheel without asking where to head. For that question was truly an unanswerable one. There was no place in specific to go that he could immediately think of.

The events of the night played out in his mind as he thought about the same scenarios happening over and over again until all surviving humans had been scattered to the wind.

He veered off the highway just before a blockage ahead and made his way through unknown side streets while thinking about the future for humanity.

He could not help but feel great remorse for those still hoping for a quick end while huddling together in crowded, military guarded safe zones. He wondered for all those people, and the trio in the truck as well, where they would go?

How would they defend themselves against a nearly unstoppable enemy? The creatures could multiply so quickly and kill one person or animal for every new infant born, it seemed inevitable that the balance of dominance on the planet would shift.

Carlos contemplated the path of the parasitic, murderous creatures as he drove through the remainder of the night straight on into morning.

He was sure that just as the wave of the terrible animals had swept across the country from their points of origin, another army of monsters was probably forging south. He imagined there was probably nowhere safe for human habitation anymore. In just about four months, Earth as humans knew it, was gone.

Carlos checked the gas gauge and pulled the vehicle over just before the tank ran dry. He was silently considering the options that the group had, which was very little.

With no safe place to go to, in his mind this left little option other than roaming around and hiding out in place to place, trying to stay alive. It seemed like a bleak and terrible life with the only goal of prolonging their deaths.

He sighed deeply. Perhaps there was still a chance that the army could pull back together and try to defeat its enemy.

"Where are we?" Lewis asked as he opened his eyes and sat up in the back seat.

Cassandra woke up and looked around. It was morning and the sky was blazing a brilliant orange over a desolate, empty town.

They were at a gas station along a small two lane road, with a grocery store down the street on the opposite side and a tiny strip mall behind it.

Cassandra looked both ways along the road and there was nothing for as far as she could see.

There were a few cars parked off the sides of the roads, but there were no homes nearby that she could see, only spotty patches of trees and shrubbery and a vast corn field behind the mall complex.

Behind the gas station there was another large cornfield and just barely beyond the tall stalks she could see the roof of a home or barn.

"I'm not really sure. I think we're almost completely across the state and almost out of gas too." Carlos said quietly.

The trio stepped out of the vehicle and looked around once more. There was a slight breeze in the cool morning air.

The trees were beginning to change colors with the season. Other than themselves and the corn stalks, nothing alive seemed to inhabit the area.

Lewis walked from one end of the gas station lot to the other, scanning the countryside. Cassandra and Carlos stayed near the jeep and panned the plain lands with their eyes, sighing uncertainly.

"Well, I guess there's nothing here." Carlos said.

"Nothing at all," Cassandra responded dryly.

"We can probably hold out here for a long while. There's probably not even enough life around here to attract the damned things." Lewis said clearly, returning to the vehicle.

No one responded. Lewis grabbed the gas pump and flicked the rest arm up, nothing happened. He clicked the gas pump again and again, pressing buttons on the display panel.

"Power's out here, too." Lewis said questioningly as he tried the pump again.

He strode up to the store and found it dark inside. The door was unlocked and he pulled it open. He tried to reach behind the counter to make anything work but nothing was receiving power. Sighing, he stalked back outside to the group and watched them watch him for direction.

"Look at that," Carlos said suddenly, pointing to the west down the road.

Cassandra and Lewis turned and watched what Carlos was pointing to. A herd of cattle was free roaming the lands, calmly grazing and mooing to one another as they walked along the cornfields. They did not seem at all concerned about the presence of any unearthly creature.

"Okay then, let's go."

"Lewis," Cassandra turned to him. "Where are we gonna go exactly?"

He shrugged.

"We'll find a hold out somewhere. Just a roof over our heads. It's all we can do for now."

They hopped back into the truck and Lewis took to the wheel. They drove slowly down the street, cautiously navigating through the cattle as they stared nonchalantly at the passing vehicle, completely unconcerned by its presence.

Lewis spied the farmhouse beyond the cornfields and turned left at the next intersection. He pulled into the home's long driveway, cautiously and slowly.

"It looks empty," he whispered as he pulled to a stop in front of the quaint home.

"Well, I'm sure some old man will come running out with a shotgun if he's still home." Cassandra muttered. "Trust me, I speak from past experience."

They got out of the vehicle and waited for a moment.

"Hello?" Lewis called.

The breeze whooshed through the large oak tree in the front circle of the home and sped through the cornfields in the back and to the side.

Behind the house to the right stood a small gray barn, its large door was open and gently banging in the breeze. The curtains were drawn in the home and no one responded to Lewis's call from within.

He stepped onto the porch and knocked on the door. No one answered. After a long pause, Lewis tried the door knob.

"It's locked."

"Let's try around back," Carlos suggested.

"Does anybody else feel like this is breaking and entering?" Cassandra asked softly.

"Cassy, trust me, it doesn't matter anymore." Lewis assured her.

"I know but still, this is..."

"Well, what else can we do?" Lewis asked of her.

She gave up, she knew he was right.

Most likely the owner of the home had either been killed or escaped away to someplace else.

She had already committed murders, so why not add breaking in to her growing list of felonies. She shook her head, trying to remind herself that the way of life she used to know, was gone. This was survival.

There was no law enforcement. She thought if she reminded herself of that enough, she might actually someday come to accept it.

She tried to let go of the life she once knew as she walked down the brick path to the back of the home with Carlos and Lewis.

The back door was locked as well. Lewis knocked one more time out of courtesy before he stuck the butt of his gun through one of the window panels and reached in to unlock the door.

He stepped slowly inside the pleasant kitchen of the country farm house. The place was clean and neat and readily livable, complete with lacy curtains and matching doilies on the kitchen table.

"Hello? Anybody home?" Lewis called out again and again as he crept through the kitchen slowly.

Cassandra followed the two men and scanned through the home as well. They walked out of the kitchen and into the living room, past the fire place and scanned the staircase up to the second floor. Lewis called out once more and stepped upstairs.

They found three empty bedrooms on the second floor, all neatly decorated with the beds well made. One very lavender bathroom was behind the fourth door in the upstairs hallway.

Cassandra scanned through the rooms for signs of recent life. The entire place looked perfectly pristine.

It seemed like its owners simply woke up one morning, cleaned the house to perfection and locked the doors and left. It was obvious that they expected the home to be in the same tip top shape when they returned.

Cassandra feared what might happen if the owners were to suddenly return later today, but she decided that Lewis was probably right.

"They're probably long gone." He said.

They returned downstairs. Cassandra instinctively headed over the television and tried to flick it on. She pressed the button several times and nothing happened. She glanced behind it to be sure it was plugged in and then turned to Carlos and Lewis. They futilely tried the light switch on the wall and a table lamp.

"Alright, let's get the stuff out of the truck. There's weapons, flashlights, and food rations in the crates." Lewis said promptly.

They opened the front door and quickly unloaded the vehicle, glancing between the house and the cornfields and the vast empty stretch of land beyond the home just making sure that nothing was stirring nearby.

When they returned inside and unpacked the crates, Cassandra began to scour the kitchen in further detail. She opened the refrigerator and grabbed a glass jar of milk, opened it and sniffed. She made a repulsive face and put the bottle back inside.

"All the food is probably bad. Power's been out too long." She said as she opened the freezer and water poured out along with some soggy packages of meat that were once neatly wrapped in white freezer paper.

"Oh, gross," she grimaced at the bloody, soggy paper on the floor.

"Well, that probably means the people here have been gone a while." Carlos said as he joined Cassandra in the search for food.

He opened the cabinets and fished through them one by one. Cassandra tried the faucet on the sink in the kitchen. Nothing happened. She frowned and turned both knobs all the way. Still nothing.

"No water, either?" She said.

"Probably have an electric pump." Lewis called out.

"Electric pump? What?" Cassandra questioned with a smirk.

Lewis chuckled. "Right, big city girl, I forgot. Out here in the sticks, people have water wells on their property. An electric pump will bring the water to the house."

"Joys of modern technology," Carlos chimed in.

"Ha, ha." Cassandra said sharply. "Well, that technology really sucks when the power goes out now doesn't it?"

"Good point." Carlos agreed.

Running water or not, they made do with what they could. They found every large bowl in the house and located the drinking well. By the time the evening had rolled on, the trio had candles and flashlights a plenty, enough water to hold them through the next several days some non-perishable food cans and were beginning to settle in, with no real plans what to do come the morning.

They simply waited and hoped. It was all they could do.

Carlos had taken a small table top radio from an upstairs bedroom and brought it back down to the living room.

He popped the batteries out of one small flashlight and put them into the radio. It buzzed to life.

For a tense moment, all three heads stared at the radio with such apprehension the radio might as well have been pointing a gun at them. Carlos scanned eagerly through the stations, but there were no broadcasts coming in.

He tried for several minutes and gave up, turning the volume down until only the slightest crackling could be heard from the station he left the on.

Lewis and Cassandra took some time and investigated the house in more detail. Pictures of a long line of family members adorned the walls.

One large photograph on the decorative shelving unit along one wall showed several generations worth of men, women, children, infants, and dogs gathered together on the back patio area, smiling happily.

The sun brightly lit the summer sky and one little girl's purple flowered summer dress flowed delicately in the breeze that ruffled her skirt. Cassandra sighed and turned away from the photograph. She wondered what had happened to those people and hoped that they got out before anything bad overtook them. They seemed like a sweet family.

They headed slowly into the basement and pointed their flashlights all around nervously scanning the dark sub level of the home, halfway expecting a grotesquely twisted sinister being to leap out them.

The basement had a thick musty odor to it but was still and quiet. They did find a large pile of newspapers next to a large deep freezer, full of soggy, rotting meat. Lewis quickly scanned through the papers.

"Looks like they kept every local paper from the original outbreak." He whispered.

He gathered the large pile up in his arms and took them back upstairs with them. Though Cassandra could not understand why anyone would want to voluntarily relive the past several months, Lewis and Carlos spent most of time reading through the articles.

They poured through the papers slowly, analyzing each story, studying them. Sometimes Lewis would catch himself whispering aloud about the things he read.

In between his readings of old papers, when his eyes needed a break, Carlos would go back to scanning the radio stations or unconsciously trying to turn on the television.

Lewis also occupied his time routinely checking the rifle supplies and counting ammunition packets, dividing them equally to the guns that they had.

He searched the house high and low for carry sacs and came up with three back packs from the bedroom upstairs that seemed to be shared by two children.

He loaded the ammo into the bags, secured grenades to the bags, and packed the rest full with rations.

"Just in case," he said quietly to Cassandra as she watched him organize their rations.

She took a deep breath and let her eyes drift through the curtains of the front window. She hoped that they would not have to abandon the home any time soon.

There was nothing beyond the window for as far as she could see, besides trees and cornfields. Somehow, getting lost in a cornfield with those satanic monsters in pursuit did not seem like a good way to stay alive very long.

At the same time she longed for her home, her family, everything that she had once known. She glanced sideways at a newspaper Carlos had just set down.

The front page picture was that of the face hugger creature that she recalled seeing on the front page of a New York Times so long ago. She squeezed her eyes shut and did her best to put the image out of her mind.

"Hey." Lewis said from behind her. "Come with me."

Cassandra stood and followed Lewis outside to the back yard. Carlos watched the pair leave but turned his head back to the newspapers once again.

"What are we doing out here?" She asked softly.

Lewis raised his M-41-A Pulse Rifle. Cassandra rolled her eyes and groaned.

"Oh Lewis, I can't even aim that other gun you gave me."

He nodded. "You need to practice so you can learn."

"Hey, I killed one of those things. At least, I think I did."

"That's good," Lewis said supportively. "Let's practice."

"Lewis," Cassandra complained. "I don't want to do this. I just want this all to stop. I don't think I can do this."

"You already have done it. You just have to refine how you do it." Lewis retorted.

"You'll need to learn to be a better shot, to limit wasted ammo and kill your opponents quickly."

"I don't want to be a killer. I can't do this, Lewis. I am not a killer."

"You'll have to be if you want to live." Lewis looked her square in the eye and said with great force.

She fell quiet and thought about that for a moment. Her eyes shifted to the gun and she sighed.

Lewis assured her that what happened in the safe zone had to happen and she would have to move on from it. She could not see how she was going to move on from the thought of murdering people.

She shut her eyes and tried to accept Lewis's guiding words.

Lewis nodded approvingly. He set up some old bottles on the top of the picnic table. Cassandra tried her best to aim the gun and hit the target. He only allowed her a limited amount of target practice since they had only a limited amount of ammunition for the weapon. But, at least the target practice did help to pass the time.

She began to learn her way around the M-41-A, but when she finally squeezed the trigger, she quickly lost control of the gun and fell back.

"That's alright, try again." He urged.

"That thing is way too powerful."

"Yeah, that's the point." He smiled gently.

"I like my other gun."

"How many bullets do you have left for it?"

Cassandra rolled her eyes back and nodded, understanding his point.

"Thirty," she answered.

"So, try again with the Pulse Rifle."

She tried again and again until she was too worn out from lugging the massive weapon around to concentrate on firing it. Eventually, the two returned to the house and found Carlos still going over the newspapers.

"Catching up on not so ancient history?" Lewis asked of him.

Carlos sighed and sank back into the oversized armchair.

"Just these things, you know. I really haven't had much time to understand them. I've just been like everybody else. Too stunned by them and too scared to do any good analyzing. Thought I'd use my downtime for that."

Lewis smirked. "So that's what you do with your downtime?"

Cassandra sat on the couch next to Carlos.

"What have you come up with Doctor?" Lewis asked calmly.

"I've just been piecing together everything I know for sure about them. Things I've seen and read and heard other people tell me."

He shook his head as he thought deeply. "Everything about them seems to make them, for lack of a better word, perfect."

"What?" Lewis questioned sharply.

"Perfect? How can you say that?" Cassandra added.

Carlos raised his eyebrows.

"Well, I mean, they are just animals, yes, but they've evolved or adapted to severe environments. Their method of reproduction, their acidic blood, it allows them to assure dominance over just about anything. They're not unstoppable. They can be killed, but it's just their numbers and how they breed that make it difficult."

Lewis clenched his jaws. "It's more than difficult. I've been in their hive. I've seen what they do to us."

"I know. I know." Carlos said, lowering his head. He breathed deeply and pressed his fingers together. Cassandra stared at her half eaten candy bar for a moment, wrapped it back up and placed it in her ammunition satchel. She had lost her appetite.

"Do you think we'll win this?" Cassandra asked directly at Carlos. "I mean…. Ever?"

Lewis bit his lip and listened quietly.

Carlos pondered the question for a long while. He did not feel as though he had the authority to answer such a question.

He believed that the answer to that question was as immeasurable as the answer to life itself. There was only one power that he felt had the right to make that judgment.

He shut his eyes and lowered his head. Suddenly his heart started to pound within his chest. His answer was on the tip of his tongue and he fought with his own mind to bury it, to not say it.

He had no right, he told himself. This decision was not his to make. Cassandra's question was not answerable by any mortal.

"I don't know."

The words slipped out from his lips in a raspy whisper through clenched teeth.

"I can't imagine this being an extinction level event. But on the other hand, if the tables are turned … if the human race as of today is no longer the dominant species on the planet…" He paused. He did not really need to continue.

"I don't see how we will survive as a race."

Cassandra broke into tears and Lewis shuffled his foot at an invisible piece of garbage on the floor. He did not lift his eyes.

The room fell silent as the dusky sky outside turned black and cloudy. Rain began to hit the windows of the house lightly. The group fell asleep slowly to the increasing sound of the rain outside.

Three more days passed by. The weather turned ever colder. There was no electricity in the house, the town; the country.

There had not been a sight or sound of the horrible black creatures in all the time they had been in the house. Lewis, Carlos, and Cassandra passed their time quietly and slowly, watching the fire crackle.

Carlos added newspapers to the fire after he pulled apart the pages he wanted to keep and shoved them in his satchel. Lewis had the cleanest weapon in the country, Cassandra imagined, after days of whittling away at the mechanics of it time and again.

It seemed that they were transcending to another level of acceptance of their future and their new life, limited and unpredictable as though it appeared to be.

"So, what do we do now?" Cassandra whispered over the crackle of the burning paper. "Do we just stay here, in this house?"

"What would you have us do, Cassandra?" Lewis asked in an equal whisper.

She sighed deeply. "Honestly, I don't know. But there's got to be something. More people? Maybe this war is over and we don't even know because we're so isolated."

"Do you want to leave?" Carlos questioned.

Cassandra grimaces, her eyes teary. "I don't want to stay anymore. I don't think we should."

"I think if we go out we'll be killed." Lewis stated.

"You don't know that," Cassandra muttered.

Her head turned towards the window and she stared out of the split in the curtains, past the breezy cornfields that had never been harvested.

She contemplated exactly what she wanted or expected to have happen as she watched little drops of rain pelt the window from under the porch awning.

She thought she saw movement, perhaps in the distance, she wasn't sure. It could have been nothing. It could have been a glimmer of a shadow from a passing cloud. She sighed and shifted to another window for a different view. She parted the curtains to look out again.

A monstrous, elongated black head stared directly back at her through the front window. Cassandra screamed at the top of her lungs and fell backward. Lewis and Carlos bolted for their weapons.

Lewis screamed for Cassandra to get back as the terrible creature did not hesitate to leap through the window glass. Lewis opened fire and pummeled the window, the creature and the walls with non stop semi-automatic fire.

"Whoa!" Carlos yelled.

The black carcass toppled over a book case under the window and collapsed into a burning heap of acidic blood and stopped moving.

Lewis kept pulling the trigger over and over again, releasing more bullet spray into the animal's shiny armor hide. He finally heard Carlos' words to stop shooting and relaxed his grip. He shook his head and let his eyes register on the site. Spinning on his heels, he found Cassandra huddled on the floor near his feet, shaking with fright.

"Jesus, are you alright?" Lewis asked of her.

She did not answer. Her wide eyes stared at him and she shivered under her hands and arms that were wrapped around her body and face.

Carlos helped Cassandra up and evaluated her briefly. Lewis strode towards the front door, carefully navigating around the sizzling floorboards. He gently popped the door open and glanced around.

"We need to get the hell out of here, now." Lewis said after he confirmed that there was no other immediate sign of activity.

"Was that the only one?" Carlos said as he helped gather their weapon and food bags and pull Cassandra to her feet.

"Looks like it," Lewis grunted as he slung two more rifles over his shoulder and grabbed a spare bag for himself.

As they got into the Humvee, Carlos reminded Lewis that the vehicle was nearly dry on gasoline.

"I know, but let's just get as far as we can."

Lewis confirmed as he slipped behind the wheel. Carlos helped Cassandra into the back and hopped in after her. She was starting to gather herself back together, shakily reaching for a supply bag and strapping it over her shoulder.

"Wh...where are... are... we g...gonna go?" She stuttered.

"I don't know. Just away." Lewis said as he slammed the truck into drive and quickly started out of the driveway.

"Lewis!" Cassandra suddenly shouted.

Another creature leapt out at the vehicle from the cornfields. Lewis swerved to avoid colliding with the thing. He veered over the lawn and swerved back towards the roadway, pressing harder on the gas pedal.

He glanced down at the gas gauge and hoped there would be enough to at least out run the animal in pursuit. As the vehicle sped on down the road and another creature joined the chase, Lewis stared between the road ahead, the path behind and the gas gauge.

"We've got to kill them. We'll never outrun them."

Carlos took a deep breath and popped the door open, halfway crawling out while the vehicle sped along. Cassandra screamed at him to get back in, and grabbed hold of his belt loops as he swayed in the breeze, bracing against the vehicle.

He tried to both brace up and use both hands to hold the rifle in his grip steady. He opened fire and one of the creatures tumbled to the ground. It was still moving, but it slowed to nearly a halt.

"Got one!" Carlos yelled as he pulled himself back in the vehicle.

"What about the other one?" Lewis yelled back to them. He did not see the creature in his rear view mirror.

Cassandra and Lewis stared out the back and sides of the speeding vehicle. Cassandra saw the thing on her side, nearly keeping pace with back tire.

"It's here!" she yelled.

Lewis glanced back and saw it. He looked back to his panel gauge, quickly noting the gas and the speedometer.

"Christ, I'm doing fifty!"

Suddenly the jeep shuttered and lost propulsion. The creature slowed immediately with the vehicle and lunged forward.

"Go!" Cassandra yelled.

"Out of gas!" Lewis barked at her and grabbed his weapon off the seat next to him.

Carlos and Lewis popped out of the driver's side of the vehicle and Cassandra slipped backward across the seat, flopping out on the other side away from the creature as Carlos and Lewis aimed their weapons while

Cassandra fumbled to grab her own gun, which she dropped on the back seat as she pulled herself out of the vehicle.

The killing machine that it was leapt on to the roof of the vehicle as Cassandra pulled herself to her feet and aimed the rifle in her hands along with the others. Lewis beat her to the trigger button and splayed the beast with bullets.

The top of the vehicle began to fizz from the acid blood pouring down on it and in just a few seconds, the roof gave in and the limp carcass fell to the inside of the truck.

Cassandra turned to Lewis, but her eyes set to a point beyond him. She shakily raised a finger and pointed down the street. Lewis and Carlos turned and followed her cue. A small, well-armed group of survivors was trotting up to the scene.

"Are you guys alright?" The man at the front of the little group called out as he slowed to a stunned walk and approached the burning jeep and three shaky people.

"Yeah, I think so." Lewis responded with an uncertain tone in his voice. "Where did you guys come from?"

The man gestured over his shoulder, "We were down the street. Hold up in a warehouse. We heard the gunfire. Are there more of those things?" He asked with wide eyes that scanned the roadside.

No one in the trio responded. Cassandra turned behind her and glanced back down the road in the direction they had come. There was nothing following the group that she could see.

Her eyes settled back on the still fizzing truck and she watched the smoke rise from the burning seats and undercarriage as the acidic carcass of the black monster inside continued to melt through while Lewis, Carlos, and the others discussed their situations for a moment.

"We need to get out of here," Lewis said finally.

"Come on," the man said and turned back down the road.

The group walked quietly and quickly down the street, each armed man scanning the countryside around them with the muzzles of their weapons.

They glanced from time to time at the weapons that the new trio carried with them. In a few minutes, the small group was tucking into the barely open door of a small warehouse. The heavy metal door was barricaded from the inside, leaving only a crack large enough for a man to squeeze through.

Lewis stepped in first, Cassandra tailed behind him. Inside they met several others that were hiding away in near darkness, with only a few candles to light the room.

Cassandra glanced from the group of people in the open space to the supplies, the stairs leading up and down to other levels, and several office doors around the perimeter. There were men, women, and a few children.

Though many were armed, Cassandra could not help but feel overwhelmed by the looks of fear and worry on all the faces, many of the people were injured, some looked sick, exhausted and succumbing to limited food and water.

She raised her eyebrows and stepped forward with a little sigh. The group of people crammed into the back room looked battered, tired, and very scared.

"How long have you been in here?" Carlos asked as he began to tend to the people as best as he could, evaluating their injuries with the professional demeanor he was accustomed to providing.

"Three weeks," the leader of the group said. "Most of the town got the hell out of here with the military escort, but those things came swarming in so fast. They buzzed in and out of town in two hours. We were all able to hide and just lucky enough to start to find each other."

He paused for a moment and looked at Lewis. Under the layers of clothing he had been donning as the weather grew cold the man could see the collar of Lewis's army fatigues. He eyed it and raised an eyebrow.

"Did you loose your men?"

"We..." Lewis started quietly. "Yeah, we were in Chicago when..."

"Chicago? Jesus, the big city like that, must have been a madhouse."

Cassandra grunted softly, with a 'you have no idea' scoff, but said nothing.

"How the hell you'd end up here in the ass end of nowhere?"

"We drove," Lewis said quite frankly.

"Well, welcome anyway, Paul Telgren, good to meet you."

Lewis and Paul shook hands. Lewis's eyes cast downward to the weapon Paul toted with him, a semi-automatic.

"Where'd you get the guns?" Lewis asked suspiciously.

The man looked him square in the eye and avoided answering the question all together.

"Look, we've been doing the best we can here."

A shrill voice rose from the outside. The very sound of the creature's cry sent shivers down Cassandra's spine. She swallowed and gripped the rifle firmly in her hands as she glanced through the propped open door.

The calls of the creatures echoed through the empty town streets and filtered into the shut windows of the warehouse.

Carlos shifted through the small crowd and watched the world outside the windows with the rest of the group. Cassandra followed Lewis, Paul, and the rest cautiously as they headed towards the door.

"Nah," Paul grunted after an awkwardly long silence. "They don't sound so close by. Everything echoes in the empty streets. We stay quiet enough, they will just pass through."

"What if they don't?" Cassandra asked with a worried whisper, peering out through the cracked door.

"They have so far." Paul responded with a satisfied tone that Cassandra took no comfort in.

"Come on, Cassy," Lewis said prompting her away for the door with a hand on her shoulder. "Let's get away from the doors."

The group gathered in a smaller adjacent area with solid walls. Cassandra immediately found herself glancing around to identify the escape routes; a habit she found forming strongly over the passing months.

Once she eyed up all of the potential ways out of the room, she filtered into the group along with the others and looked around at the group as they began to quietly open cans of fruit and heated up soups over small flames.

Cassandra eyed one of the men in the group. There was something familiar about him, but she could not quite pin point what it was. The man was crouched as far back as he could possibly be into the farthest corner along the furthest wall.

He looked absolutely distraught, lost, with dirty jeans and a bruised face. His face was long and wrought with pain and misery and loss from so many months of hardship.

Carlos moved through the people in the room, until he too came to the crouched man. He whispered softly to him and reached out to inspect the man's arm, which was wrapped up with shirts and towels.

Cautiously, Carlos began to remove the wraps, and the man whimpered softly, grimacing while biting his lip and trying to force himself to keep composure. When the wraps came off, Cassandra could see that most of the man's forearm was completely burned.

The wounds did not appear, from what she had seen so far, to have been caused by the acid of the creatures' blood. The skin on this man's arm was black and charred, as though he had reached through a burning fire.

Carlos used some of his stockpile of medical supplies to tend to the man's injuries. As he finished putting a new bandage on his arm, he smiled softly, trying hard to convey some optimism.

"There, you should be alright."

The man nodded, but only muttered a distant thanks to Carlos.

"You're welcome. If you need anything, just let me know." Carlos reached to shake the man's hand as Lewis drifted over and eyed him up.

"Are you Dell Allen?" Lewis asked in a stunned whisper.

That question jogged her memory and Cassandra now knew where she had seen the man before.

The man nodded silently.

"Oh man, I loved your movies!"

"Yeah, yeah! I knew I recognized you, man." Someone else brimmed ear to ear as he trodded over and clamped down on Mr. Allen's hand firmly.

"Wow, we sure could use a little bit of Metal Man's help, now."

Someone else laughed dismissively. "Yeah right; seven foot tall man in metal armor that shoots lasers and kills the bad guys – they're just around every corner."

Lewis' face faded as Dell Allen stared warily back at him, a hopeless sort of look etching into his face.

"Well, come on, sit down." Lewis said his voice faded, a little look of embarrassment flickered in his eyes as he glanced at Cassandra.

The famous actor did not seem at all appreciative of fan approval, and he quickly lowered his head, squeezing his eyes shut and wrapping his good hand around the bandages that covered his forearm. Carlos patted him on the shoulder supportively and moved on to the next person.

The sounds of the shrieking calls of the satanic beasts grew distant, but it was still rattling Cassandra's nerves. She did not terribly like the way Paul was eyeing her weapon or the rest of her, nor did she particularly care for the looks the rest of his men seemed to be giving her and her companions.

Most of the group was injured and worn looking, and the few men who had weapons, including Paul, were the only ones who seemed to be unscathed. Cassandra couldn't help but notice how very few of the women or the two young children in the group, who mostly remained tucked away behind the women, seemed afraid to even look up.

The night was a restless one. Cassandra, Lewis, and Carlos sat side by side watching the group around them. Lewis took to a lookout duty for a few hours in the middle of the night and Cassandra pulled away from the group for a short while alone to have a quick look around the rest of the warehouse as most of Paul's group had split up and disappeared into some of the offices and back rooms.

Cassandra slipped silently down a corridor and heard the echoing sounds of a woman crying. She tip toed forward nearing the door the sound was coming from and realized she heard multiple voices; at least two men and one woman whimpering and moaning.

Cassandra felt her heart leap into her throat and she began to shake. She heard muttering sounds of male voices warning the woman to stay silent.

The tone was threatening, and the woman's muffled sobs were fearful and pained. It was no stretch of the imagination for Cassandra to figure out what was going on behind the closed doors of the back room in the middle of the night.

She spun on her heels and returned to the group, grabbing up Carlos without a word and nearly dragging him to the fire escape to find Lewis.

"We can't stay here," she whispered ever so softly to Lewis. "It's too dangerous."

Lewis put his hand up to quiet Cassandra as he looked around the cold dark and abandoned streets. Though distant, the shrieks of the bug drones were still echoing through the bricks and mortars.

"They're still out there, Cassy."

"It's not them I'm worried about, Lewis." Cassandra whispered, glancing from Lewis to Carlos and back.

"What are you talking about?" Carlos questioned.

The three of them huddled together in a whisper as though they were conspiring. Cassandra told them what she heard and shook her head dismissively when she was questioned about her interpretations of what she thought she heard through closed steel doors behind concrete walls.

Every time someone's voice raised slightly, another would harshly remind them to whisper again. Cassandra halfway felt like a kid at a sleepover, trying not to wake the parents nearby.

"What's going on here?"

Cassandra jumped with the voice breaking the whispering meet. She eyed Paul warily as he rubbed his dirty fingers through the stubbly beard on his chin.

He strode out into the landing of the fire escape, too close for comfort as far as Cassandra was concerned. She grabbed Lewis' arm with a tense grip as she sidled as close as she possibly could next to him, slightly behind Carlos.

"We're not safe here, the bugs are nearby."

Paul seemed to eye the three of them up like they were some kind of menace or threat to his dominion. He brushed off any concerns about the bugs dismissively, but Lewis insisted his point.

"Any of you… your group that wants to come with us; we should leave in the morning." He said to the Paul.

"No, no. My group is staying. We've done fine for weeks." Paul said quickly.

"Fine? You have seriously injured people here," Carlos added in and glanced at Cassandra. "A couple of the women look pretty beat up…"

Paul closed in on Carlos. " What you tryin' to say exactly there, Doc?"

Lewis stepped forward, but stayed silent as Carlos held his ground.

"You've got a few who seem to be no worse for wear, but the rest of the group looks beat, injured, and starving. If we all leave together as a group, we can all get to food and more medical supplies."

"We're not going anywhere. If you want to go, fine. Be my guest." Paul snapped, extending his arm over the edge of the fire escape. "Go out and die. Why don't you leave Cassandra here with us…" he paused. "For protection. We do everything we can to protect everyone in the group."

"We're leaving in the morning, with anyone and everyone that wants to come." Lewis said flatly, with an authoritative tone.

Cassandra eyed the group of men warily, and Paul sneered at her.

"Does he make all the decisions for you?"

Lewis pushed forward and grabbed Paul's coat collar. "Don't you talk to her, you hear me?"

Voices raised quickly and a small fray broke out, attracting the attention to of several other men in the group.

"What the hell's going on out here?" One of them asked snidely.

"They're leaving. All of them. Right now. Get out." Paul said bitterly, wiping his jaw from a hard punch Lewis landed.

Lewis, Cassandra, and Carlos slipped past Paul and glanced to the group, who had now mostly gathered around listening to the scuffle.

"You'll die out there. You're better off here with us." One of the armed men said to them.

"I doubt that," Cassandra muttered without missing a beat.

In a tense moment, guns were raised and voices rose even higher. A deadly silence filled the room for a moment and Lewis stared intently at Paul, eyeing him down like nothing more than a thug.

"I guess you do make the decisions, then." Paul said, nodding his head at Lewis, and turning slightly away.

In a fraction of a second, it seemed as though the tension was broken. Paul partially turned away, as though to dismiss Lewis, Carlos, and Cassandra from his keep.

Immediately, he swung his arm back up, aiming his gun for Lewis's head. Cassandra screamed and at least three people lunged forward.

The gun went off twice quickly and someone else opened fire into the air, causing everyone to stop. Cassandra looked around from Lewis to Carlos; neither of them seemed injured, and she was sure she wasn't either.

Dell Allen stumbled backwards with a look of pure shock on his face. He was covered in warm, fresh blood spray.

He collapsed on the ground quickly and Cassandra barely noticed that Paul dropped to the ground at nearly the same. The group took a synchronized gasp as they looked around and evaluated exactly what had transpired.

Paul was gasping for air. Carlos immediately dropped down to evaluate him, but it was obvious it was too late. Dell Allen was in shock, and may have been the one to pull the trigger, but he wasn't sure. He was not injured. The group quelled and looked around.

Lewis clenched his jaws and spoke harshly at the rest of the men, who seemed a little less interested in renewing the fight without their ringleader.

"Those things are scanning this area, they're cleaning up. If you want to stay, go ahead. Whoever wants to leave, you should come with us now."

"You honestly think you stand a better chance out there?" One of the women in the back of the group asked with a disbelieving look on her face.

"If we stay here, we'll die." Cassandra chimed in.

"South," Lewis said quickly.

"What?" One man questioned.

"We need to head South."

"Why south?" Dell Allen asked Lewis in a shaky whisper as he pulled himself up off the floor. "What makes you think we'll be better off there? Where exactly?"

"Because winter's coming and there's no power. The bugs are following after their hosts… after people, who mostly headed North. If we go south."

One man from the group, Cassandra wasn't even sure of his name, looked thoroughly shocked at the notion of leaving. "You can't be serious? You want to leave, _on foot?_ I'm sure the power'll come back on."

"Then you're an idiot." Someone else retorted angrily.

Lewis stepped back in with a tone in his voice that commanded respect from the group. He was no longer willing to tolerate any hold ups or arguments.

He knew remaining where they were was a bad idea. It was obvious that the group had simply become accustomed to being battered and bruised and not having a chance, although as Cassandra listened to Lewis talking, she glanced around the room full of people and wondered how many of those injuries were from the bugs or from other people.

Lewis considered the weather as a factor, but also the known locations of the bugs.

To stay in the northerly regions would mean contending with bugs and cold winters, with no electricity, no commodities that people depended upon to exist, and no idea when any semblance of modern civilization would be restored.

There was no communication, no idea what the rest of the outside world was facing, nor how many people there were even left. Heading south would be difficult on foot, and there was a serious chance of heading right into to bug territory.

"I'm not saying either is a good choice, but I think we need to give ourselves every chance possible. If we run out of food resources and the snow hits…" Lewis wrapped up. "We'll be better off not having to compete with weather."

Cassandra and Carlos stood by Lewis. Dell Allen soon rose to his feet, ready to follow, nodding in agreement.

Slowly the rest of the group stood as well. Outnumbered, the remainders of the power-hungry gang that followed Paul dropped nodded in agreement as well.

The small group was soon organized and ready to head out into the open streets under the early morning light. Lewis crept over to the door and peered through, holding his breath so he could hear more clearly, listening for any sounds.

He heard nothing from his crouched position near the entrance.

Turning his head back, he stared at Cassandra's wary face for a quick glance then nodded to her. She dropped her chin into a subtle nod and Lewis lurched forward, pulled to his feet and strode outside scanning the buildings and parking lots around him for signs of the enemy.

He silently wondered if he was making the right choice, if leading the people out of their makeshift shelter was a good idea, or perhaps it was better to simply cower and hide in a corner. He quickly decided top put those thoughts out of his mind.

As he looked back, he saw the group filing out of the building one by one. There was no going back. They had to survive.

Cassandra popped out of the building and strode quickly to Lewis's side, using the muzzle of her rifle to scan the buildings to her right while Lewis' weapon scanned the left side of the street. They marched quickly, silently, and warily.

"So, do you prefer Cassandra or Cassy?" Lewis asked of her after more than two miles of dead silence. "I just realized I never asked."

She gazed at him with a stunned look, which quickly softened into a smile. The question, so lightly and casually asked, threw her from her mind set. She was walking with gritted teeth, glaring at the town around her as though it was one large enemy and Lewis asked such a lighthearted question they might well have been taking a nature walk in a park on a peaceful summer day.

"Cassandra," she answered, though she thought it was all rather irrelevant. It made no difference to her what she was called, but she answered just the same.

"But Cassy's fine, too." She added quickly. "Everyone calls me Cassy."

Lewis smiled at her and she smiled widely and dropped her eyes to the ground for a moment. A not so distant sound of the terrible call of the bugs took them both away from their smiles and their eyes fell to the scenery around them.

Whether driven by determination or fear, the adrenaline that pumped through the veins of each member of the group kept them walking steadily and quietly clear through that day with very little rest.

They walked well into the night and only stopped to make camp not long before dark fell. They remained silent, camping around a small fire, which they used to warm soup.

Soup and fruit cocktail and canned vegetables seemed to be the primary diet of the human race, Cassandra thought.

After so many months of being disheveled from their homes and comforts, it was getting nearly impossible to find anything that wasn't canned or vaccu-sealed in plastic. Frozen foods had long since gone bad, fresh meats were rotten.

Canned goods were the staples and sometimes still sealed packages of rice, beans, cereal, and potatoes, even macaroni and cheese, were treated like a high end meal as they quickly became scarcer.

As Cassandra ate, she silently wondered what would happen with even those luxuries dwindled away. She could only hope that the world would be reorganized before that happened, and the nightmare would end.

The group walked for days, managing twenty miles a day at best. Their place slowed as the group's overall levels of exhaustion rose and the food supply they had wasn't enough to support such activity.

The adults took turns carrying the smaller children when their small legs and tired feet could no longer tolerate walking.

The group walked from early morning light until just after dusk every day, stopping only as necessary and making small, quiet camps at night.

Their journey did not go unnoticed, as small groups of survivors, just looking for help, wandered into camp one night and join them.

The weary members of the exhausted group stopped for much needed rest as evening approached less than a week into their journey. They had gone days without sight or sound of a bug, which was a relief to everyone, but despite that, the journey was still difficult.

"Alright, do we have any idea where we should be going?" Dell asked of Lewis.

Lewis shot him a dirty look but said nothing. He glanced around the streets and looked to the group that followed him as Carlos was helping some to water from a jug.

This town, like everywhere else they had been, was dark and cold, with no electricity to power even a single street lamp. The street was full of shops and stores and the group had come to halt directly across the from the entrance garage to a full sized shopping mall.

Cassandra glanced at the solid, windowless side of the building that faced them. At the bottom of the banked building, there was a large steel garage door that was firmly pulled closed.

Bright red painted on lettering displayed the daily mall hours. Cassandra was certain that it was before nine in the evening on at least a Friday or Saturday, but despite the hour, the parking garage and the mall were closed.

"Let's go in there, maybe we can find something to eat, and we can rest," Lewis addressed the group.

Slowly, they pulled back to their feet and started across the street. Cassandra sighed deeply as she walked alongside Lewis. She eyed the mall warily.

She loved malls normally, but she thought back to her last experience in one, and decided she had little desire to go into another one. Seeing the large, vacated building looming over the group as they rounded a corner towards the main entrance, Cassandra found the place to be foreboding, but she stayed silent as they approached the entrance.

They soon found themselves standing in front of the building, staring a glass door that led into a lobby, followed by more doors. One of the first doors was broken and Cassandra was certain there was a lingering death waiting inside.

"Looks like someone beat us here," Lewis said.

"Or something," Cassandra mumbled, eyeing the door suspiciously.

Cassandra grabbed at Lewis' sleeve as he strode forward. He cast her a quick glance and headed through the door.

She was staring at the building with wide eyes and a look on her face that was almost pleading to him not to enter. Lewis freed himself from her grip and smiled sideways at her, trying to assure her he doubted there was any danger.

Slowly, the group followed along. Cassandra stepped through the first broken door and eyed the lobby and the second set of glass doors, one of which was cracked, but not broken out.

The doors were tinted, and no light was shining through. Only blackness seemed to be waiting for them, and a heavy smell almost like refuse filled the air.

Cassandra stepped through, feeling her spine tingling. The overwhelming sense of danger swept over her like the thick, musty, rotten air that draped her body.

She was just about to inform Lewis that she thought they should not have entered this place, when one member of the group, blind from the lightlessness of aisle, flicked on a flashlight.

Lewis jumped around as if to shout to the woman to turn the light off, but he said nothing. It was too late. The woman had already clicked the button on her flashlight.

It was as though someone had turned on a light inside a deep tomb that was unfit for human eyes. Cassandra felt nervous and weak, sick. She took a quick step sideways and folded herself behind Lewis as he glared at his surroundings with a deep hatred etched onto his face. Cassandra eyed the mall, too frightened to think, or block out what she saw.

Her eyes were wide with fear and she looked around, trying to comprehend what she was being forced to look at.

There were no stores visible in the mall; no little shops or kiosks, not even a vending machine or the store directory could be seen.

There were walls, a floor, and a ceiling, but no doors, no brightly lit neon signs, no ounce of familiarity to the place at all.

The floor was glistening under the beam of the flashlight from the slimy strands of crisscrossing mucousy goo that covered the floor from wall to wall. To call them 'walls' however, was a grossly incorrect misuse of the word.

There were no true walls, Cassandra decided rather promptly. Where the walls of the mall once were, now was a cemetery instead, a sickening tomb of death, decay, sulfur stench, blood, and rotting flesh.

The smell of death filled Cassandra's nostrils, permeated her skin. It sank deep into her bones, grabbed hold of her heart and throat and made it difficult to breathe or concentrate on anything other than the loud thud of her pounding heart as it struggled to free itself from the horrific tomb.

Hundreds upon hundreds of bodies were entwined behind the thick spidery castings all along the buried walls of the mall as far as Cassandra could see.

The corridor ahead split off into a 'Y' and Cassandra could tell that there was a second level to the mall buried somewhere behind the sickly yellowish and black resin secretions of the hive walls. She spun slowly on the spot eyeing her surroundings with her rotation.

She was in an unearthly place, so far from human in its appearance she just as much could have been on an entirely different planet, a planet where sights like this were normal, where they were just a way of life; a planet void of anything familiar, and surrounded only by death.

"My God!" Exasperated whispers and gasps and wails of pity and sorrow filtered from the group piling into the mall behind Lewis, Cassandra, and Carlos.

As Cassandra gripped Lewis' shoulder, she could feel his tension though the several layers of clothing he wore. He shifted his weight, and raising his weapon, took a step forward.

Cassandra turned a wild eye to him and noticed that several others had begun a slow stride forward. Suddenly the speed of the situation finally caught up to her.

For a moment, she felt as though life had come to a complete halt and would allow her to see what she needed to see and make a hasty exit before anything realized she was there.

However, when all of a sudden, the movement, the sights, and the sounds sped back up and flooded into her brain in real time, her mind was bombarded with all the things she didn't even realize she had not seen in the few seconds she was standing on that stunned spot.

The young children in the group were howling hysterically at the sights in the corridors that they could not understand. Disgusted and horrified adults who had not ever spent one second of their time considering that this would be their reality cursed and whispered to one another as they eyed the dead plastered to the walls and ceilings.

The ground was littered with the dead 'face hugger' carcasses that had fallen off their hosts' faces. The people on the walls had terrified looks of unimaginable pain forever locked onto their faces as their carcasses rotted away.

Cassandra was quickly becoming all too familiar with that very look. She clenched her jaws and tried hard to fight the terrible urge to vomit and cry.

Her eyes shifted from Lewis to the men walking even deeper into the hive, and back to Carlos behind her, who was, wisely, helping, forcibly, if need be, the shaken people of the group to leave the building. She saw him hustle out Dell Allen, who turned around just outside the door, huddled over and wretched.

She felt herself smirk at him; like a reflex she couldn't control. She was almost disappointed at the man, and she knew deep down that wasn't fair.

Still, he always presented like a brave, bold man, and his famous character was able to charge straight into automatic fire from the bad guys, never getting hit of course, until a pivotal point in the film, which always turned out to have a happy ending where the good guy wins.

She watched for a moment the superhero icon folded over and gagged on his own spit and felt herself doubting that there would be any happy ending when even the super hero was retching.

Carlos glanced back inside the doorway and gave her a 'come on!' type of look. She felt compelled to run out the door, and turned back to Lewis to be sure he was following in her path. However, he was standing all the way down at the end of the hallway, staring over the banister to the lower level of the mall with several others.

Her eyes widened. "Lewis!"

She called out in a loud whisper. He did not respond. She tried again, a little louder, and again a third time.

Before she even realized it, she found herself walking determinedly towards him. She looked down at her own feet, both shocked and angry with them for carrying her even further into the realm of the bug hive.

Before she could even say another word, her eyes shifted to an even more terrible sight below.

The lower level of the mall was covered so completely wall to wall it would not even possible for the smallest of a person to walk through and not step onto the tops of the countless egg cases that adorned the wide hallways.

Cassandra felt her heart skip beat after beat as her eyes scanned very quickly over the egg lined hallway and then landed solely and squarely onto the giant hole in the floor just under the archway to a large anchor department store.

She could not see the name of the store since it was well covered by the resin secretion that trapped a dozen more people along the partially blocked doorway.

The hole that was torn through the floor of the mall, opened up directly to the parking garage below and Cassandra got the immediate sense of movement from the levels below.

Something was alive in the hive, and it was large, and it probably knew they were there. Cassandra suddenly felt a whole lot like a fly caught in a spider's web, and she knew that the spiders would soon be coming.

She immediately imagined that the massive queen egg layer was going to rush up through the hole at any moment.

Right then, a severe hiss rang out through the lower levels, up through the hole in the floor and past her ears. The men around her readied their weapons at the hole.

"We've got to kill them," Lewis whispered to himself over and over like a broken record.

Each time he uttered the words, his voice changed a little. It shifted from shaky and fearful to despiteful and determined.

"No, Lewis, we have to run," Cassandra whispered, clutching his arm.

He gave her a wide eyed stare and she knew from the look he shot her that he was not going to leave the hive without making his mark known.

His weapon shifted into readiness and Cassandra shook her head, pleading with Lewis not to press on. He cast her one final glance and slid sideways along the banister, winding his way around the second level to a set of stairs, as several other men followed.

Cassandra tried to stay focused on Lewis, but the tears filling her eyes made it hard to keep his image from blurring. She wiped her eyes and cast her head sideways towards Carlos, who was still standing in the doorway to the mall with his jaw dropped.

Cassandra felt her body shaking. Her hand rattled so hard it vibrated the weapon in her clutch.

She glanced at her rifle as though getting ready to have a conversation with it, then lifter her eyes towards Lewis, who was already putting one foot down on the first stair to the lower level. She shot Carlos one last look and darted off following Lewis.

She caught up to him quickly as he slowly lowered himself down the semi-circle stair case.

The five men halted at the bottom stair, and evaluated the egg cases that were pressing into one another all along the floor. Cassandra eyed the egg cases from a few steps behind the rest of the men.

While many of the cases were splayed open like a tulip from hell, hundreds of the leathery sacs were tightly closed at the top, still unhatched.

One man strode out from behind Lewis and stepped forward, tiptoeing into a small space just behind the first of the egg cases.

Cassandra caught up to Lewis and bumped him on the shoulder softly. He turned to her, startled. He had not even realize she had followed him, she figured from the shocked look he gave her that definitely told her she should not have been there.

She swallowed and tried to pull a smile on to her face, but failed. Her eyes cast back to the main floor when she realized something was moving. The egg cases were opening.

Aroused by the presence of useful life in their midst, the spidery creatures within the leather shells began to unfold themselves as the tops of their oval homes peeled open like a budding flower.

The creatures' long crab like fingers reached over the openings of their eggs and the animals inside readied their tails underneath their bodies like a spring, able to propel them many feet from their sacs.

The man in the egg field did not hesitate to open fire. He pumped the shotgun in his hands over and over, quickly reloading when the gun went dry. Two other men followed his lead and began to fire at the eggs.

Lewis and Cassandra reserved their ammunition and watched the scene unfold. After just a few seconds, a wild shriek rang out that resounded loudly above the gunshots from the variety of weapons that the men carried.

The men howled with elated cries as they easily blew the egg sacs apart like darting a water balloon.

Lewis and Cassandra began to step forward carefully. As she put her foot down on the main level, she was certain she felt the floor vibrate.

Another loud wail called out from the parking garage levels below and even Lewis dropped his eyes to the floor he stood on. The floor was shaking.

Lewis cast a wide glare to Cassandra, but she kept her eyes pointed down, watching the floor as though she could see it vibrate. The other men did not appear to have noticed that the floor was shaking. There was a rhythm to the vibration, a definite steady feel to it.

Cassandra lifted her eyes as one man in the group toppled forward, a spidery face hugger firmly gripping to his head.

Like a repeat of a bad old movie, the other men quickly jumped over to help their friend.

They tugged and pulled and tried with all their might to remove the animal from the man's head. Lewis and Cassandra stared sadly at the scene for a moment, but their eyes quickly shifted over to the massive hole in the floor as a giant black head emerged angrily from the sub level.

The massive creature that Cassandra had feared was lurking in the lower levels pulled its body up through the hole.

It was quickly greeted by wild gunfire and the screams of the frightened people that were destroying the egg field.

Cassandra howled and lifted her rifle. She could feel the adrenaline take charge as she began to react to the situation without truly thinking.

She shot the weapon at the massive beast until it went dry. Pulling back up the stairs alongside Lewis,

Cassandra reached into her side bag and pulled out another clip for her weapon. The other men launched themselves backward as the massive black beast jumped firmly onto the floor in front of them, a sea of her drone offspring rising up with her, pouring out of the hole with their shiny armor hides reflected the light cast from the weapons fire.

Cassandra was barely aware that more weapons fire began as some of the others in the armed group from the sidewalk outside the mall had run back into the building and opened fire.

There was a fury of shouting, shooting, and shrieking, and Cassandra found herself focusing on the massive animal's twenty foot long tail as it whipped around in a quick curve and snapped like a whip into the people in the pit of the hive.

One man was thrown onto the stair case and he slammed into Lewis, knocking him over. Cassandra jumped backwards up two stairs to avoid the collision.

The man received a deep gash across his chest from the tip of the thing's massive tail. The other man that had been hit flew backwards into the egg field, and his face was quickly smothered by one of the crab like creatures.

Reloaded, Cassandra opened fire once more in hysterical and uncontrolled bursts while halfway falling backwards up the stairs with Lewis near her feet just lower than him.

She watched the drones swarm in a definite formation and Cassandra thought for just a moment that the giant queen creature, turning its massive crowned head at the hell spawn, was controlling the smaller ones, like a commander ordering troops.

She did not spend much time pondering the hierarchy of the creatures as the larger-than-man creatures quickly approached. Seconds felt like an eternity as chaos erupted into full force.

The people on the staircase bolted for back up to the second level. The massive creature, who took a prominent stance in the semi-circular lower lobby of the mall, was tall enough that her head was just about level with the floor of the upper level.

As Cassandra and Lewis bolted across the upper hallway, the creature's massive tail lashed out again and collided with the floor just in front of the group.

The upper walkway shuddered from the impact as part of the floor collapsed back down to the lower level. Lewis jumped over the gap that had been made in the walkway and opened fire one more time on the maddened monster.

Cassandra quickly sprinted across the void and began to shoot at the bugs that had climbed quickly and agilely to the upper level. The creatures charged like bulls straight on into the gunfire from the entire group while Lewis and Cassandra continued to shoot at the larger creature in its giant crowned head.

The thing hissed wildly and its anger grew ever more intense. It shot out its second set of jaws defiantly at Lewis. Narrowly avoiding the inner jaws catching his foot through the bars of the banister rail, Lewis fell backward.

One of the bug drones lunged forward at fallen Lewis. He swung around quickly and bullets shot out over his head from Cassandra's rifle. Lewis quickly rolled out of the way to avoid splatter of the deadly acidic blood.

He leapt up and quickly ducked per Cassandra's howling. She swung about at fired her again at another charging beast. It went toppling backwards over the rail and crashed to the lower level, ever more enraging the massive beast in the center of the commotion.

The queen wailed out a hiss at the loss of one of her precious offspring. Someone in the group shouted a warning and lobbed a grenade down into the lower level as at least two others tried futilely to stop him.

The grenade blew with a resonating burst and exploded empty egg casings, live facehuggers, and already dead drones. It sent up shards of the brittle resin hive wall secretions and a massive spray of acid, which Lewis and

Cassandra, only just realizing what was going on a fraction of a second before, dodged away from.

The acid sizzled as it came into contact with any exposed metal, cement, or human skin, but it did not damage the walls of the hive or any of the bugs around.

The queen hissed and squealed wildly and darted forward, attempting to climb up the balcony. She was huge, strong, and terrifyingly unstoppable, but the cement of the upper walkway, already under strain from hundreds of pounds of hive secretions and weakened by acid spray from the explosion and the queen's own attack, gave way and collapsed under the animal's added weight.

The queen began ripping away the upper level floor, creating its own path to its prey.

The small group of frightened people darted away, maintaining fire at the attacking bugs and charging queen. Lewis suddenly slammed to a stop and turned on the raging beast that was quickly climbing its way over the debris it had created, and was climbing up to the upper level after those in its sight.

Cassandra shrieked to Lewis and stopped herself. Her heart pounding with every beat, and the very seconds of her life ticked away in the middle of the dark corridor of the invaded space.

She screamed at him one more time to keep moving, but cut short when she noticed what he was doing. Lewis was rapidly removing from around his waist a full grenade belt. He glanced at the belt, which had five grenades still in place in their leather holders.

Quickly, moving backwards, Lewis let his rifle dangle over his shoulder and he pulled the pins from all five grenades and launched the belt at the approaching giant. Cassandra fired out at another bug that was charging at her from the body covered walls.

The thing collapsed into a melting heap on the ground. Cassandra looked back just in time to see Lewis charging at her at full speed.

He bolted nearly directly into her, grabbed her jacket collar and dragged her with him out of the broken glass doors until she had managed to catch up with his pace.

The pair ran out onto the street and kept moving. Lewis howled to the panicked group outside to run, but his words were quickly drowned out by the massive explosion.

Fire burst through the glass doors with such a force it sent glass in all directions up, down, and across the street, along with chunks of concrete and pieces of hive and human remains.

The shrieks of the creatures inside the mall hive stopped abruptly and the front portion of the building collapsed in on itself.

A massive boom resounded through the street, followed quickly by a thick cloud of smoke, dust, and debris. Acid rain poured out of the explosion, tapping onto the streets and the abandoned vehicles that lined the roadsides.

The blood of the creatures melted through the vehicles and through the pavement of the road.

As the group pulled themselves back together from their sprawled out hiding places throughout the block, they stared in shocked silence at the remains of the mall.

For a moment, the group as a whole held their breath and watched warily over the rubble, keen and intent for any signs of movement.

A tiny piece of concrete rock shuffled its way from a peak of debris and rolled down onto the sidewalk at Cassandra's feet. She glanced down at the little piece for a moment before her eyes rolled back to the pile of rubble.

The remains of the building, littered with burned cadavers that had adorned the walls, began to move.

Lewis yanked on Cassandra's shoulder enough to get her attention. She turned away from the moving pile of rubble and looked at him.

Suddenly, the blasted concrete pile splayed open and a severely enraged gigantic black creature, obviously injured from the blast, leapt up out of the rubble.

Cassandra could see that part of the things' flared head was broken off and dripping a steady downpour of acid onto the pile from which it had just crawled out of. The creature looked at the group, hissed wildly and mournfully over the loss of its hive and leapt forward, meeting with gunfire from a weary and frightened group of men and women.

Shakily, Cassandra joined in the group effort and opened fire. Lewis called for someone to lob a grenade if there was one, and in a few moments, an explosion resonated.

The giant bug queen was caught the creature off guard. She lost balance and tipped sideways, slamming a foot down hard onto the broken shards of concrete to try to catch herself, but someone else launched a second grenade and yelled for people to clear out.

The next explosion hit the massive beast square in the chest and rocked it over. The creature howled as it collapsed and the group aimed their rifles and shot until nearly every weapon went dry and clicked a hollow sound.

The awestruck group simply stopped and stared in disbelief at their victory. Cassandra felt a flicker of a smile embrace her lips as she stared at the sizzling cadaver. Her body was shaking and she was weak in the gut and the knees, but she felt victorious.

The smell of death and acid blood in the air never felt so good. They had taken down the massive monster. She glanced to the rest of the group and saw Lewis smiling widely. He walked over to her and touched her face softly, wiping blood off her cheek.

"Are you hurt?" He asked her.

She looked at him uncertainly for a moment, then reached and touched her own face. She had not even realized that she had been injured, she was numb with shock and hyped up on adrenaline. She clapped a hand over her wound and looked warily at Lewis.

"I'm okay." She assured him.

"Hey!" One of the people from the group came over towards Lewis, eyeing his weapon.

"Those guns, what the hell are they? They eat through those things like nothing else can."

His voice was agitated, as though Lewis and Cassandra were trying commit a conspiracy against him. He shook his weapon at them and raised his voice.

"This hunk of junk barely cut them! Got any more of those big guns?"

Lewis considered him for a moment. The only rifles the trio had were the ones physically strapped to their bodies.

The rest were probably still fizzing in the backseat of the truck so many miles away. Before Cassandra could even follow what was happening, the man was grabbing at her, yelling something about not needing such a big gun and she was getting wrestled down to the ground over the weapon she clutched to in her hand.

The rest of the group watched while Carlos and Lewis both leapt forward. Carlos yelled for the men to stop as Lewis threw himself into the fray.

The two men rolled over, Cassandra pulled herself frantically to her feet as she grabbed her rifle and glanced off to the burning queen's body in the rubble, double checking that thing was still dead.

Her head turned back to Lewis as the two men scrapped, punching and kicking at one other, Lewis clinging to the two rifles that were criss-crossed strapped over his shoulders. Cassandra shouted along with Carlos for the men to stop fighting, but neither seemed to be paying much attention.

They fought for what seemed like minutes upon minutes. The angry man wrestled himself loose from Lewis's grip and turned on him with the barrel of a gun he had pulled out from somewhere hidden, his automatic weapon having long since been thrown on the ground uselessly.

"Gimme' one of those god damned guns!" he shouted.

Lewis, lip bleeding, lay on the ground with his hands in the air, staring down the barrel of the weapon.

"Leave him alone!" Cassandra shrieked. "We can't be fighting each other! I know your scared, but please don't do this."

He turned on her, keeping the gun pointed at Lewis.

"Throw me yours," he snapped. "You don't want me to kill him, throw me yours."

Cassandra glanced to Lewis, tears welling up in her eyes. She nodded and whispered a plea to once again for Lewis's safety while bringing her weapon around to her side.

She slowly slipped forward, shifting her weight awkwardly over the pile of rubble. She fell sideways on a slab on concrete, and cautiously pulled herself back to her feet, her right hand still clutching the rifle so desperately demanded, while her other hand slipped behind her back to help push her off the rock.

"Give me the gun!" He yelled once more impatiently.

Cassandra cast him an angry look. She glanced at the rifle in her right hand and forcibly threw it forward. The man dropped his guard and reached for the weapon.

Lewis pulled himself to his feet and was just about to charge at him, continuing his fight for the rifle, but he glanced at Cassandra and stopped in his tracks. Cassandra gritted her teeth and tore her left hand around from behind her back as the man, one of Paul's cronies, clamored for the flying rifle.

Without hesitation, Cassandra pulled the trigger on her handgun she still harbored. The bullet slammed into his abdomen and he fell backward.

Cassandra glared at him as she strode forward and grabbed her rifle of the ground. The shocked group around stared in silence. Cassandra strapped her rifle back over her shoulder and glanced from Lewis to the crowd around her.

"You bitch," the dying man gagged before the air from his lungs hissed out from between his lips for the last time.

The remainder of the night was lived out in near silence. The group walked through the town in shock, too afraid to utter a breath too loudly and peak someone's temper. By morning, they fell to rest in a park somewhere well outside the small town's limits.

Days passed and the group pressed south, following Lewis's lead. Though their conversations had lit back up, no one referred to any of the events of the night of their encounter with the hive.

Cassandra spoke as little as she had to. She spent most of the time quietly locked away inside her own mind coming to grips with the truth of her reality.

Eventually, the small band of desperate survivors came into what was left of another small city. The buildings were dark and empty, many had broken windows, bullet holes, and blood stains.

Some of the buildings had massive pieces blown out of them from where cannon fire had grazed them, while other buildings were completely collapsed because of it. Cassandra thought the town looked as desperate as she felt. She was hungry, tired, and very much wanted to rest her weary feet and eyes.

The group sifted through some of the still standing buildings, trying to find any scraps of non perishable food of any sort but came up empty handed as a dozen battered and bloody men strode slowly and warily over to them.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" One of the men called out to the group.

"Hey there," Lewis started in response. "We don't want any fights."

He informed the men of the group's recent past and desire for food and rest.

"Well, you can't stay here." Another man said, striking his palm with a shotgun.

"What? Why not?" Lewis questioned, striding to the front of the pack.

"This is ours," another grunted.

"What is yours?" Lewis said, halfway laughing madly. "What? This rubble? That tree? The nothing everywhere? We just want rest, man. That's it."

"Don't we all," the leader of the group snapped through a half a smile.

He glanced behind him as more people began to emerge from the darkness between and inside the buildings, outnumbering the traveling group of nomads. Cassandra scanned the people. Every one of them was armed at least two times more than most of their group.

"You have to get out of here." The first man directed.

"What if we don't?" Carlos asked quietly, calmly.

The man raised his eyebrows at him and lifted his chin as though entertained by the question.

"We kill ya' then. We don't want those things here. They're not here anymore. They're not coming here, ever. Move on." He taunted with his weapon indicating the exit street.

"We're not going to bring them, we're trying to escape them too," Carlos insisted.

"No...no...no..." another man started. He tipped his gun to his own chest and tapped it. "All of you could have those things in you."

"None of us are impregnated." Carlos assured the leader.

"Um..what? Oh is that what you call it?" The man said snidely and shook his head. "No way, sorry. You could be lying, or maybe," he approached Carlos and pointed to his chest, "you don't even know it."

Carlos opened his mouth but he closed his jaws again, figuring it futilely useless to argue his point. Carlos looked to Lewis, who appeared to be pondering whether or not fighting for their right to rest, but he lowered his eyes.

He could see the groups' point about keeping their little corner of the town secure, and there were many more places for the group to find rest and possibly food.

"We could group together," Lewis tried.

"Survival in numbers, is that it? Sorry, been there, tried that." The man said prominently with even a little laugh.

"Lewis, we should just go." Cassandra urged him quietly.

He glanced to her and contemplated the look she was giving him. Without a word, Lewis withdrew, put his hands dismissively up and turned away.

The group continued on to find a new spot to rest that night and the next and the next. They stocked up on supplies whenever they could, but only taking so much as they could carry.

Their stops grew in duration from hours to half days, to entire days, to several nights in the same hold out. They particularly tried to coincide their rests with places like grocery stores or large warehouses, any place where they could find things to eat, supplies to carry with them, and extra clothing to add to their walking wardrobe in an effort to stay dry and warm against the rainy and cool weather.

They checked the maps frequently to see where they were, how far they travelled, and where they should keep heading to.

Unchanged by the events that were constantly unfolding around it, Earth spun on, and the seasons changed accordingly.

The group migrated as best as they could, and the trees turned from shades of deep rusty orange to completely bare. The bright sunlight that had lit the sky during the days had long since faded to dim, dull grey cloud cover and the wind and rain seemed ever persistent.

It seemed as though the bugs had either vacated the area completely, or were in underground dwellings, perhaps hibernating. No one knew, and every one pondered the behavior of the bugs, but all were grateful to go many nights without encountering any of them.

The group, slowing due to weather, exhaustion and malnutrition, covered less and less ground each time they travelled, and spent more and more time making camp, stocking up and waiting "it" out. It was sometime in late November that Lewis' group, holding out in a large discount warehouse, heard the shrill voices rising through the night air, aroused by the distant sounds of a raging battle.

The group watched warily from windows and the rooftop, huddled up against the cool air and holding their breath in wary silence. Echoes of weapon fire and explosions reverberated through the town, coming from somewhere far away in the distance, it was hard to tell from where.

The shrieks and calls of the bug army told Cassandra that the animals were heading towards the sounds, thankfully, away from the warehouse that the group currently called camp.

Cassandra squeezed her eyes shut, forcing a single tear on a downward course along her cheekbone. She silently wondered how much longer any of this could go on.

She was not prepared to die, but she believed that in the end, the tables will have turned so much against humanity, there would be no recourse. She sighed and gripped her rifle, which was slung over her shoulder, and glanced down at it.

Until now, the thought never crossed her mind, but as those deathly calls from the black beasts dissipated into the night air, she found solace in her weapon.

She realized she was not the person she used to be, or had intended to become. She grabbed extra clips for the weapon instinctively and placed them into a front pocket of her jacket.

Her ammo satchel was strapped to her waist under several layers of clothing and would not be the easiest to access in the heat of battle if the drones turned back.

She did not want to become a killer, but that is what had happened. She never imagined a life where every day she would prep for battle, search for food, and struggle to survive, but that was the world in which she now lived.

She never thought she had truly adapted to such a life, until she stared at her weapon and realized she had, although she wasn't sure when.

The thought flooded into her mind and she tried her best to shake it away, but to banish those thoughts would be to lose a part of herself. It was undeniable now, there was no getting around it, no hiding from it. She carried her gun at her waist, clung to it more than she would have a bag of riches and wielded it like a roughened soldier.

Her routine was to creep, survey, listen, scan, and prepare constantly for the threat of death around every corner, behind every shadow.

She could not imagine a life where any of it would end, where there would be peace or comforts she once knew. She thought back and wondered when it happened, exactly, that she had accepted the routine of surviving.

She dreaded the idea that she had almost gotten to the point where the routine offered her comfort and confidence. Her new life was now familiar and normal. There was no real question about what needed to be done on any given day or the next; it was all about survival.

A constant anticipation of the next battle or running out of water or food kept Cassandra and the others on a perpetual level of high alert.

The slightest off sound would cause the formation of frightened to group up and scan the area, and this was normal and familiar now for them all. Even the youngest of children in the group seemed to know exactly when to be silent, and listen and wait.

Cassandra watch the group around her; the children as they now stared out windows with wide eyes, all listening to the calling shrieks of the bugs far away in the night.

She looked to the small fire, the bundles of blankets, the long and worn faces of the people in the group, from a famous actor to a pregnant girl the same age as her.

It was hard to imagine feeling comfortable with such a routine, such a way of life. Cassandra tried to ponder when she had adapted so fully to it that she stopped thinking about the life she once pursued.

She didn't know if she was broken and defeated into accepting the inevitable life she couldn't change, or if she was turning into something that accepted such a life as the only way.

Every time a noise rose up from anywhere to the horizon, the group turned on high alert. One night, it was the high pitched whinny of a small band of loose ponies free roaming the small town they had harbored in.

Another, time, a small cluster of war-weary survivors startled the group as they emerged from the shadows.

For a few days, the little band of strong willed survivors allowed Lewis' group to stay with them. When Lewis deemed it was time for his group to find safer ground, the strong willed residents refused to follow.

They would not leave their homes, so Lewis and Cassandra and the rest of the group that chose to, turned their backs on the fighters and left them on a bleak November morning.

Tonight, the group was on high alert listening to the sounds of a battle raging far beyond anywhere they would venture. She watched for a long while, scanning the dark city which was illuminated only by the brightly shining moon.

Suddenly, a clattering sound seemed to echo up from the alley way just outside the building.

Immediately, five people, Cassandra amongst them, jumped into action. They stalked across the rooftop and scaled down an emergency ladder as far as they could do before the bottom rungs were destroyed.

The lookouts shuffled silently across the landing and through a door way into the building, down in the inside stair well and into a hallway that led to the outside.

When Lewis reached the entranceway, he jarred the sliding doors open and crouched down. Those behind him did not hesitate to follow his lead. Slowly, they crept out into the street, braced for a death they knew was inevitable; an onslaught they were sure would come.

Inside the warehouse, as was routine, even those without weapons knew exactly what they needed to do. They quickly and quietly put out the fire, gathered their ever-packed supply bags and prepared as planned to make a hasty escape without abandoning their precious supplies.

The entire dance had been preplanned and practiced repeatedly. Under Lewis's guidance, the group ran their drills and continually did it in a decreasing amount of time. Tonight, the group was ready and in place in less than one minute.

Cassandra noticed the preparedness and credited it completely to Lewis' determination in leading the people not to war, or death, but to survival. She was grateful to him for it. She wanted to live and she knew just as Lewis did that fighting hordes of the monstrous creatures would not lead to individual survival.

It was a dismal prospect, to fight only if and when one had to, and spend the rest of the time moving from place to place, scrounging for foods and conserving precious ammunition while carrying with you only what you absolutely needed the most to survive.

However, at the moment, this was the life they were leading. Cassandra cast her eyes out into the street and scanned the unlit and empty parking lot and buildings beyond. She thought to herself for just a moment about the two possible outcomes of this battle and the entire war; defeat or victory. She decided to hope for the latter and readied her weapon as Lewis guided the group.

The moon shone brightly, the sounds of the battle in the far distance died down. A harsh cool wind slapped Cassandra's face as she crept in formation through the alleyway. She ignored the chill in her bones that was not caused by the cool night air. Her spine was ruffled by the sensation of another attack with the demonic creatures. The group halted and listened again.

There was silence. Even the wind seemed to die down until the air was cold, quiet, and still like a graveyard. Cassandra suddenly became very aware of the sweat building on her shaky hands that gripped her weapon. The creatures, if they were nearby, were silent and Cassandra briefly wondered if perhaps they had all just imagined the terrible shrieks out of sheer paranoia.

She scanned the buildings and the lot once more, and then looked ahead to Lewis, who was well out into the vacant lot. He listened carefully once more, then lowered his weapon ever so slightly as though partially convinced that there was no danger, but still unwilling to drop his guard completely.

"Maybe they've moved on," the woman crouched next to Cassandra whispered softly.

Lewis turned on his heels slowly towards the group behind him. The uncertain look of near relief dissolved away as he rounded his turn. Instantly, his eyes and weapon were cast upward, above and behind the group's heads. He yelled just before pulling the trigger on his rifle.

Cassandra threw her head up and rotated enough to view the building she was crouched near. The roof and walls were black, shiny, and moving. Dozens upon dozens of the massive creatures slithered down the sides after their presence had been discovered.

Cassandra could barely believe it. The creatures were hunting them. While the group held their breath and bodies still in a moment of shocked reaction, the monstrous dragons that had planned their assault attacked. The creatures lunged off the building and were instantly upon the scattering, shouting group of firing humans below.

Lewis ran forward and positioned himself directly between Cassandra and another woman as they opened fire. Together, the trio created a cover fire against the hordes of drone bugs.

They fell back, avoiding the deadly acid spray and offered a brief shielding for the others in the group to file in behind and maintain their own fire to clean up any creatures that had not been killed by the initial drape of bullets.

The trio timed their firing so well that no more than one person was left to reload at a time. The bugs pressed on in their attack, forcing the Lewis, Cassandra, and the others to push back even further, but the creatures numbers were thinning.

Cassandra took several steps backwards with the others while the creatures continued to charge, unfazed by the gunfire and the falling of their brothers. As one creature dropped to the ground, another would simply clatter over it, remorseless over the other's death. The ground below the falling bodies sizzled and smoked as the acid blood burned through the blacktop.

In a sudden rush, the creatures bolted forward and leapt into the air. Several of the monsters cleared over the heads of Cassandra and Lewis. Cassandra dropped to the ground and rolled aside.

Glancing behind her quickly, she saw three of the creatures attaching the splitting ranks of the group. The creatures had managed to flank their adversaries, dividing the group from one whole, into smaller, less effective pairs and trios.

Cassandra's attention was pulled violently back to the remainder of the creatures as Lewis howled at her to look out.

She turned her head sideways and began to attempt to fumble her way back to her feet, but suddenly pain shot through her body and she toppled over once more. She tried hard to keep her eyes open, but she howled out from the pain.

She was not totally sure what had happened but she felt her body getting dragged along the pavement as she struggled to stay aware. It was all happening so quickly.

Her fingers fidgeted at her rifle and she rolled the weapon onto her belly, pointing the muzzle dead ahead at the creature that had sunk its talons inter her lower leg. Lewis yelled to her at the top of his lungs but over the sounds of his gunfire and the pounding of her own heart, along with the blood rushing into her head, she did not focus on his words.

Suddenly, she felt a tugging from the other end. Something had grabbed her under the arm and she lost her grip on her rifle.

Cassandra was certain that she was about to be pulled apart by the creatures. She was lurched harshly to her feet and her left leg collapsed back under her, unable to bear weight.

Her head turned and she saw Carlos clinging to her, supporting her with both hands under her arms as he dragged her off to the side, and back in the direction of the warehouse.

The sights and sounds were becoming fuzzy and slow, but Cassandra could hear Lewis yell once more over the gunfire. She rolled her head sideways and glanced at Lewis as he raised his weapon directly at her.

Carlos shouted into her ear and lost his grip on her. She dropped to the group, accompanied by the furious gunfire and yelling from Lewis and Carlos.

Cassandra cried out again, but doubted anyone could hear. She felt intense pain burning through her right arm. Awakened by the unbearable sensation of burning skin, Cassandra began to feverishly claw at her several layers of clothing, pulling them off two at a time until she was down to her bra, crying hysterically.

She did not even realize that the gunfire soon died off around her as the last of the creatures was dropped to the ground. Cassandra was fighting for consciousness, but the pain from her clawed leg and acid burned arm over took her and she collapsed backwards as Carlos overshadowed her once more.

When she opened her eyes, she found herself amongst grim company. The group around her wore long faces and teary eyes, many were bloodied and frightened.

Quietly, Cassandra pulled her body upright, grimacing from the pain in her left leg as her heel dragged along the ground. She glanced down and noticed her toes sticking out from under many bandages and two metal slates that ran from her heel to halfway up her calf. Her right arm, she noticed, was red and ulcerated and missing a quarter sized chunk of flesh and muscle from the side of her bicep.

"Easy." Lewis whispered from behind her.

Cassandra looked about at him. His face too, was streaked with blood and dirt and his eyes looked cold, hard and distant.

She saw Carlos coming over from behind him, and beyond that, she could see what was left of the group of armed fighters. Five men rested under a variety of bandages, some moaning from the pains they felt. The group was nestled into a windowless stock room behind a heavily barricaded door.

"What's going on?" Cassandra whispered then realized how foolish a question it was.

She knew from the bleak and weary faces in the room around her that they were on the losing side of the battle. They were seven men short from what she saw in a glance, and nearly everyone in the room was suffering from the loss, both of men and weapons.

She tried to tally up a mental list of who did not return from the battle, but she felt guilty when she could not come up with most of their names. The only one she immediately noticed gone was Dell Allen.

Forced into fighting rather unwillingly, Allen was not able to bear his weapon as well as the heroic character he portrayed in his blockbuster films. She felt bad for him in his absence, and found herself wondering just what kind of death he met with, if he was killed outright, or taken away, back to a hive to be cocooned and impregnated to spawn out one more of the bastard things.

"Are they gone?" She asked quickly.

"We killed every one of them," Lewis said quietly but proudly.

"But we took a big hit," Carlos added and pricked her big toe with a metal instrument. "Can you feel this?"

She nodded and Carlos seemed pleased.

"Good."

"What happened?" She asked wearily, trying recall the details of how she ended up back inside.

"One of those things clawed your leg to pieces. I pulled out most of the bone fragments I think, but your tibia was grated like a chew toy. Your arm got acid on it, but you were lucky, it only grazed the side and didn't get bone. You've got a large chunk of muscle missing."

"I noticed," she said, somehow managing to forge a smile onto her lips.

"Your arm will be alright. This leg is going to need time." Carlos added.

Lewis noticed her smile and it seemed to catch him off guard that someone could do such a thing at a time like this.

But, he returned the gesture, and as Carlos double checked her bandaging and then moved on to tend to the others, Lewis sat with Cassandra and the pair talked for a long while. She did her best to cope with the pain in her leg, but she tired after a while and fell asleep.

The group stayed in the little room for three days. The regained their strength as best they and cautiously removed the barricade and carefully traversed to the outside sales floor, staring wide eyed through the space, searching for any hint of life.

The place was quiet and still. Cassandra remained with the rest of the group while Lewis, Carlos, and a few others that were strong enough spread out to check every corner of the building. Once it was deemed clear, the rest of the people began to flow back out to the main floor.

They had already organized a plan to make a supply run to a nearby hospital. While half the group left to do that, the remaining people managed to move their entire camp a few buildings down the street, to get away from the site of the bloody battle and make a new camp to hold position in.

One afternoon, Cassandra opened her weary eyes and noticed that most of the group was bustling to prepare food and reorganize a sitting area into two rows, forming two long, awkward tables and chairs.

"What's going on?" She asked in a haze.

"Don't keep track of days much anymore do you?" Lewis asked with a gentle grin, biting into a peanut butter cracker.

"Should I?" She asked vaguely.

"It's Thanksgiving," he responded with a shrug.

She glanced at him. Truly she had lost track. The day of the week seemed so irrelevant to her, but she glanced once again to the group that was preparing a feast.

The children were setting plastic plates and dining ware, pouring water and soda into cups and mugs. Several men and woman had little fires burning, preparing canned food. The eclectic collection of foods that included peanut butter, jams, crackers, beans, vegetables, soups, rehydrated potatoes and gravy, even cranberry, and canned meats, smelled delicious as she took a deep sniff of the cool air in the building.

The group, grateful for what they did have as they all gathered around the tables, took hands, and engaged in a well-spoken, teary, prayer from one woman at the far end of the table.


	18. Chapter 17

**CHAPTER SEVENTEEN**

Finally strong enough to migrate more, the group took to the streets as December set upon them in full force.

One foggy morning, the pack was ready, and after long discussions over many days, they had a course planned, still headed for warmer temperatures as far as they could manage to travel. Lewis predicted that it would probably take the group most of the winter to do it, but he was confident that they could make it and survive the distance.

Stepping lightly on her injured leg, Cassandra leaned onto the side walls of the building for support as she slipped out into the parking lot and into the cold air. She fidgeted with her rifle and glanced upward at the building above her, just double checking that there were no threats about.

She pulled the collar of her coat together and took a deep breath as she pulled herself away from the building, with Carlos and Lewis at her sides, offering help if she needed it.

They slowly walked for most of the day through abandoned towns. Cassandra almost could not believe that there were no people around at all.

Childishly she wondered where they all went, but if she caught herself wondering that question, her mind would flicker back to their discovery of the mall-hive, and the masses of cocooned, chest exploded people that lined its gory walls.

She knew where the people went. She had hoped of course, that this was not the case. Perhaps the residents of the towns had simply evacuated when they had the chance and had all found safety and were nestled somewhere awaiting their cue to return to their homes, jobs, and previous lives.

As she walked with the group down a dark street and stared at the many homes and apartment buildings all around her, Cassandra wondered if anyone simply just remained in their homes and locked the doors and hoped for the best.

Many of the windows had their curtains drawn, so she could not see inside to try to determine if there was any life in the homes at all. The group moved quietly and cautiously, trying not to step too loudly or shuffle a loose pebble on the streets and sidewalks where they walked, fearful of alerting anyone or anything to their presence.

With the bulk of their supplies usurped, the group had little choice but to remain moving to try to find more. Like vagabonds, they traveled with backpacks filled with what necessities they could carry.

Carlos was running far too short on medical supplies in his very empty carry bags. Each person carried their own bag of emergency medical supplies, and none were more than half full. Tending to the group members' many injuries for so long with no restocking had put a severe dent in their precious first aide supplies.

Thus, the first stop on the group's agenda would be a medical facility. They walked the entire day without seeing a hospital or any place where their resident physician could stock up.

As the temperature dropped sharply that night, they came to rest in a vacant, unlocked house. By the time the group had taken back to the streets after a quick meal in the morning, there was already a cold wind in the air, and the gray, cloud covered sky kept the sunlight from warming the temperatures.

Cassandra shivered against the ever dropping temperatures throughout the next three days, and quietly wondered if they might all just freeze to death before they found needed supplies or managed to make it to warmer climates.

The progression of their travel plans was slow, hampered by the group's weariness, still healing injuries, lack of food, and the cold temperatures.

Although few and far between, they did find new survivors and slowly Lewis' group grew from just over one dozen to three, then four, which put additional strain on all supplies.

With winter upon the group, and short days and long nights, travelling was slow and worrisome. Everyone knew the creatures ruled the night.

Fourteen hours of darkness seemed like the perfect situation for the bugs to come out in full force, but thankfully, it had been some time since anyone in the group, or any new survivors that joined them, had encountered any. Cassandra was glad for that, and did wonder if perhaps they had entered some sort of winter hibernation, allowing the humans a blessed chance at a long rest and regrouping.

She allowed that train of thought to comfort her as she limped along the cold street.

From time to time she glanced around at the group, at Carlos, and at Lewis. Each seemed lost in their own thoughts. Some had somber faces and kept their eyes low, while others still allowed their eyes to sweep the buildings around them.

With gritted teeth, they remained ever cautious for signs of the monstrous animals.

"Look, there!" Someone in the group called out suddenly after a long silence.

Daylight was quickly filtering away behind the clouds in the gray sky, but in the distance, probably not more than a mile away the group could see a sign for a hospital.

They shifted their course and took off along the empty streets, slightly reenergized by the sight of their destination. They strode on as quickly as they could, but in just a few minutes longer, they halted and glanced about.

Snow began to fall all around them. The falling white flakes had a different effect for each person, Cassandra noticed as she looked around again.

The children smiled at the tiny, peaceful flakes that had begun to fall. Several others looked even more desperate by the sight of the snow, for it indicated a bitter road ahead battling winter, trying to survive.

Cassandra felt that too, and wondered how cold the temperatures would get and how much would fall, but at the same time she was also stunned and awestruck by the sight. It seemed so odd to her that the world could just keep spinning, cycling through its seasons, happily oblivious to the terrors that had unfolded upon its surface. The white flakes were shiny and glistening, perfectly shaped, like something out of a story book.

They gleamed in the darkening light as they danced happily and peacefully to the ground, and Cassandra found herself staring at the flakes like a child in a winter wonderland.

Perhaps it was the lack of exhaust fumes from vehicles, and the filth and smoke that arose from ordinary everyday life into the air that made the snow seem even whiter than it had ever been before. Or perhaps it was simply that the lacy flakes clashed so dramatically with the satanic black shells of the creatures that were slowly claiming the planet.

After a moment of considering the snowflakes, the group quietly pressed on and approached the hospital in the distance.

Slowly and cautiously Lewis and the others scanned the area before hesitantly entering the emergency room doors when they pried them apart. Carlos watched the others enter and felt a rush of fear over sweep him.

His mind flooded back to the hospital he once directed, which seemed so far gone it was like it was a faint memory of a dream he had had long ago. He paused momentarily at the entranceway and glanced about, terrified of what might lurk inside.

Lewis and Cassandra looked back to him and waited for him to join. His eyes were wide, but he stayed quiet and did his best not to allow too much of a reflection of the terrors running through his mind to gleam in his eyes.

Once he stepped over the threshold and looked around, he quickly let his fear subside. He forced his mind to rattle over the mental list he had crated of the supplies he desperately needed to restock on and would like to have if there was room to carry.

Trying to not to whisper too loudly he rattled off the list to himself as he moved through the waiting area of the emergency room.

His eyes scanned over the seats, most of which were vacant, save for two. Two men were slung over their chairs lifeless and decaying.

The foul odor that lingered in the stale air told the group that the men had been long dead.

From a brief look over, Carlos thought he could see that one of the men had a dead chest burster hanging from the gaping hole in his bloody tee shirt that covered his torso. The other man was kicked back in the opposite direction, slumped backwards over the low back of his chair.

Craning his neck to get a further look, Carlos saw that the second man had a hole clear through the sides of his temples. There was a dusty and blood covered gun on the man's lap, just under the blown out portions of his chest.

Carlos pressed his lips together and passed the row of chairs, silently commending the man for his effort to save his friend and keep himself from feeling the terrible pain of the baby creature's emergence from between his ribcage.

There was another body on the floor between two more rows of chairs on the other side of the large room. That man seemed freshly dead, and at first glance Carlos found himself questioning if the man was still alive.

He approached the face down body slowly and knelt next to it as the hushed group watched with bated breath. Carlos gently placed a hand on the man's sleeve and immediately knew that the body was dead.

The body was cold and that familiar pungent odor of rotting flesh greeted his nostrils. Carlos rolled the man's body onto its side, tempted to do so by professional instinct to evaluate the man's wounds or by morbid curiosity to see if this man had also played host to the horrible parasites.

The group took a communal deep breath of disgust as Carlos rolled the cadaver onto its side. The man's face was nearly torn off, or more appropriately, burned off by the acid blood that had hit it, and the chairs around him.

Aghast at the sight, Carlos quickly released the man and the body thumped flatly back to the floor.

Without any more delay, the group headed through the doors into the triage area and scanned for any signs of life, friendly or otherwise. The hospital was deserted of anything living, but the place had obviously seen its fair share of disaster.

The triage area looked like a mortuary and target range combined. There were no carcasses of the torturous black bodied creatures, but there were plenty of human cadavers strewn throughout the main floor and down several adjoining corridors.

Lewis scanned over the dead military as he walked through the area. Carlos took a moment to allow the group to adjust to the terrors they were seeing, before he spoke.

He grabbed some paper and a pen from behind the nurse station and began to make his mental list written. Mumbling to himself as he scrawled his wish list onto paper, he rattled off names of drugs, instruments, and bandaging materials he desired.

"Should we split up to find these things faster or go as a group?" Carlos asked of Lewis when he was finished with his fairly long list.

Surrounded by a sea of terrified faces, Lewis wasted no time in answering the question. Though he could see Carlos' point of collecting the supplies, which were probably spread out in different areas and floors of the hospital, quickly and efficiently by splitting up, he made his choice.

"We go as a group," he said quietly.

Cassandra and several others sighed. No one had any desire to split up, regardless of how quiet their surroundings might seem.

So, the unit as a whole started down a corridor in search of their supplies. As they walked, they came across more bodies. Lewis scanned briefly over the dead military and paused when one man in the group halted over one's body and knelt down.

The body was ripped along the abdomen as though one of the creature's long spearheaded tails ripped through his side during the heat of battle. The man reached behind the solider and pulled out a shotgun the cadaver was laying upon.

"What are you doing?" One woman questioned defensively.

"Hey we need it more than he does." He responded as he slung the shot gun over his shoulder.

At first Lewis looked utterly enraged at the lack of respect for the dead soldier, but his face softened as he realized that the man had a valid point. Lewis turned away and continued scanning the hallway, looking over several other bodies in the corridor.

The walls were blasted apart in some areas from massive amounts of gunfire, and as they turned a corner, they met with a collapsed ceiling amongst charred debris where a grenade had exploded.

They were unable to follow the signs to the pharmacy with their path blocked, so they continued into the main part of the inpatient lobby and slowly headed for an alternate source of supplies.

They went up a stair case, through a hallway that clashed with the rest of the scenery around them. With nothing disturbed in the entire stretch of the corridor, it seemed like it did not even belong in the same hospital building at all.

As they found a set of stairs that would put them behind the blast site, they descended back in to the war field. The smell and the blood stained walls along with the shredded cadavers that littered the hallway sent shivers through Cassandra's body.

Even more eerie than looking at the rotting cadavers of a battle long past, was the sheer absence of the enemy's bodies. Cassandra was not the only one to notice this, as others in the group began to comment softly while they tiptoed carefully through body after body.

"They didn't kill one of those things..."

No one responded to the man who whispered the words through gritted teeth.

Carlos halted in front a steel door with a vertical window and a name placard that read PHARMACY on it. Lewis peered inside and pushed the door open.

The door slid to a halt against a knocked over shelving unit behind it. The pharmacy was in disarray. Shelves were knocked down and bottles of medication were strewn everywhere, but there were no bodies, human or otherwise, present.

It took Carlos and the others quite some time to sift through the rubble and find mostly everything on his list of medications.

By the end of that night, the medical supply bags were stocked full of much needed antibiotics, bandages, surgical instruments, suture, and at least one of everything on Carlos's list.

Having a good supply of emergency aide seemed to relieve the group a little and as they piled into a waiting room on the second floor of the hospital at just before dawn, they were all feeling a little stronger. Carlos put his new supplies to good use and tended to those who needed aide before stopping to rest sometime in the afternoon.

They spent the remainder of that day in the waiting area dining on their dwindling rations and watching the snow accumulate outside the window.

Cassandra glanced outside at dusk and figured there to be at least three inches of fresh white flakes on the ground. The snow blanketed the street and sidewalks outside untouched by man, beast, or snowplow.

Lewis took a quick inventory of each man's supplies and calculated that they would begin to run severely low on daily meals in three more days.

Each person in the group was instructed to try to curb their appetites as best they can, so they could hold out as long as possible so they did not try to move on in the snow.

He and Cassandra sat together for quite some time and then headed down a hallway towards the patient rooms to evaluate their surroundings in more detail. The hospital wing they entered was devoid of bodies in the corridor, but as they peered through some of the room doors, they found a terrible sight.

Patients brought to the hospital for care, had been abandoned to their beds. Several of the rooms were occupied by bedridden corpses that had either starved or died of their ailments that brought them there in the first place. Lewis and Cassandra saw all that they needed to see in that hallway, and returned to the group a short time later.

The snow fell all through that day and stopped sometime during the night while much of the group slept. By the time they were prepared to move on, five inches of the powdery white flakes had been draped over the ground and remained untouched for two solid days.

A little hesitant at first to make such easily followable tracks in the snow, Lewis did step out into the cold and started on course. Flowing in behind him, the rest of the group marched quietly with him towards their next destination, which was for food.

Sources of food were easy to find, with homes, restaurants, delis, grocery stores, and a variety of other places in every town and on nearly every street. However, finding edible foods after nearly three solid months of no electricity was becoming far more difficult, just as was staying warm in the winter months.

They entered shops and stores and filled up with long-lasting foods and found plenty of clothes to pile on their bodies to help keep warm.

When well hidden deep inside buildings, they would light small fires and huddle around to help kill the chill in the air, always bearing in mind that the smell of the smoke would help attract the bugs that they hid from.

One week had passed and Lewis was disappointed with how little ground the group have covered. It was a difficult situation they were in, one that none of the people could have possibly planned or trained for, so traveling was hard and far slower than he felt ideal.

He silently feared that they would not survive the winter, for they would not make it to warmer climates. Despite the need to seek warmer weather, the cold temperatures caused the group to slow their journey dramatically, so they did the best they could given their situation.

Despite the slow migration of the group of men, women, and children, Lewis still felt that they were not faring all that poorly. Though the members of the traveling band had no or little survival training, they all had the will they needed and Lewis did his best to guide them to survival.

He was grateful for surviving what they had so far, and for not having had another encounter with the vile creatures in several precious weeks. He and Cassandra discussed their opinions on the lack of encounters, but quickly ended their conversation out of superstitious fear of jinxing their run of luck.

As they walked out of the empty city, they took to a highway and walked along the snow covered traffic lanes, bracing against the cold wind and icy temperatures. Lewis began to slow his walk as he cast his eyes to the ground. Cassandra followed his line of vision and her eyes set upon tracks in the snow.

"They're human anyway," Carlos said with relief.

Lewis scanned the roadway ahead and saw the tracks disappear down an exit ramp just ahead. He bounced over to the guardrail and looked over the side, scanning the area along the road with the others for any people that may have still been nearby. He saw no one and started forward with his group down the ramp, following the tracks in the snow.

They walked quickly along a wooded street and began to see the edge of a city take shape ahead on the road. There were vehicles crammed so tightly into the street the group had to forge a path around them through the trees, following the tracks of those before them that had done the same thing.

Cassandra kept pace alongside Lewis and warily watched the streets around her. Not every group of people they had encountered thus far was sociable and willing to tolerate any invaders, beast or man, in what they called 'their' territories. She was tense as she paced with Lewis down the road.

They slowed as they approached a line of defeated tanks along the intersection ahead. Cassandra glanced at the damaged vehicles with only a fleeting interest, while others in the group gaped in shock at the terrible sights around them.

The nearest buildings of the city they entered were demolished from cannon fire. Here at least, there were signs of some victory over the bugs. Tattered black corpses littered

the acid burned streets for several blocks.

"This must have been a safety zone," Cassandra whispered softly as she stared at a pile of bug bodies.

Lewis said nothing he just stepped past her and continued down the street slowly, weapon drawn and ready. The city had a hostile air to it, but Lewis wondered to himself if it was just his nerves and exhaustion catching up to him.

It was just a city after all, and the horrible events that had taken place there had obviously come and gone some time ago. One thing vacant from the battle scene, was the opposite of what was missing from the hospital's corridors.

There, there were only human victims and no animal bodies at all, but the streets before him were quite the opposite. There were no human corpses along the wreckage and burnt buildings and vehicles all along the streets.

The tracks in the snow seemed to be scattered everywhere, giving the impression that a group of people had been here in the last few days, and could possibly still be around. As Lewis walked on, he and Cassandra exchanged nervous glances.

Carlos, too, seemed to sense what they did. The air was getting hotter and a terrible stench met their frozen nostrils. Frowning, Lewis signaled the group to a halt and crouched low. Cassandra and Carlos flattened their backs against a building and watched Lewis skulk towards the corner.

He slowly peered around the edge of the building then looked back to Cassandra and Carlos, who were watching him with wide, worried eyes. Lewis shot them a quizzical look and stood up.

He tipped his head in the direction he was looking, indicating it was safe enough for the group to follow him and he disappeared around the corner. Cassandra hopped into action immediately, walking with Carlos around the corner where they halted once more.

Their jaws dropped in horrified amazement.

The road was blocked off with a massive pile of human corpses. The bodies were stacked on top of one another forming a pyramid shape ten feet high and as wide as the street itself.

Bodies touched from building to building and Cassandra could not tell how far back the pile went. The sight was difficult to evaluate through the flames that were burning away at the thick pile of corpses in the road. The stench that overtook the winter air was overwhelmingly powerful and nauseating.

Sickened, Cassandra slid off to the side and turned away, trying hard to avoid retching. She looked down the block behind the group and noticed another odd sight on that street.

Giant cardboard signs, painted with what she was certain was blood, were propped up against buildings and cars all along the street, forming a flimsy fence line that separated the rest of the world from the man in a fur coat that swayed atop another tank.

Cassandra got Lewis's attention and he and the others turned to look down the street. They walked apprehensively towards the man on top of the tank. He was holding two more signs at his sides, swaying, crying and talking to himself.

As the group approached, the man's voice projected louder, but he did not seem to make eye contact with the people that closed in.

The signs offered to the amazed onlookers warnings of the end of the world, the end of mankind, the destruction of the human race, the wrath of the devil, and a numerous other variety of foreboding phrases.

"Are you all right?" Carlos asked up to the man on the tank.

The man shivered and swayed. His face was red and teary and Cassandra had the distinct impression he was naked under the long ladies' coat he wore.

He was standing barefoot on an acid burned tank in the middle of the road, surrounded by his cardboard barrier, howling quotes from the book of God and sobbing over the end of times.

"Hey!" Lewis called once.

He called out again louder and louder yet a third time until finally the man on the tank looked down at the stunned group that stared up at him.

Before Lewis could even eek out another word, the man halfway fell down off the tank and strode through the snow over to his cardboard fence, immediately feeding Lewis information he probably did not want to know.

"The end has come, renounce your sins, kneel and pray! The end has come; this is our punishment...our punishment...punishment..."

He swallowed an announced louder, with ever reddening eyes, "This is the finger of God, the finger of God...the gnats. The gnats... finger of God. We are lost. We are lost."

He continued on, repeating broken words over and over, paying no attention to Lewis and Carlos's attempts at quelling him. He continued to sway, cry, and preach barefoot in the snow before the shocked group in the street.

"That's enough!" Lewis growled at the man, grabbing hold of his shoulders and shaking him to try to get the man's attention.

Through his teary eyes, the man continued to rattle on about the end of the world. His eyes never quite made contact with Lewis. He continued on, repeating words and stuttering, acting as though he could not see or hear or sense the group in front of him, yet it was obviously clear that he knew full well they were there.

"Ah, don't mind him, you won't get him to move." A voice said loudly from the street corner.

Heads turned in the voice's direction and the group laid eyes upon another band of people.

The man in the lead strode forward with a thin smile on his pleasant face and shook Lewis's hand as he introduced himself warmly. His name was Tanner and he looked hardened and battle-weary, but he smiled all the same as his small troop and Lewis's band of survivors intermingled before he led them to their hideout.

Cassandra listened as the gritty man tell them of their struggles and informed them of the battle they had been through only a few days prior. When questioned about the bodies, at first the man tried to avoid answering, but eventually he did tell the trio that their band of survivors had indeed piled the bodies there to burn instead of leaving them to rot in the streets.

Tanner seemed filled with remorse over all that he had witnessed and taken part in, but he gritted his teeth and continued on in his discussion, adding that the bugs had passed through in a massive wave less than seventy-two hours ago, and the man in the fur coat, who no one knew his name, had been preaching ever since.

The area was indeed a safety zone, one of the last, Cassandra imagined. Tanner told them the zone had been up since the middle of October since he and many others had established it before the military ever showed up.

He led the tired, cold group into an apartment building and Cassandra could not quite believe what she was seeing. Despite having no electricity, the people that lined the halls and every room, were mingling quietly and seemed rather oblivious to the destruction outside them.

Cassandra was glad for the lifted spirits, and as Tanner gave them a personal tour through the buildings, she began to understand their mentality.

The people had held out through seven massive attacks and multiple smaller scales battles. They held their ground and managed to horde plenty of supplies, food, weapons, and ammunition.

They had no intention of leaving the building unless they absolutely had to, and thus far, they had not been forced to leave in mass. They had obviously seen their fair shares of death and lost many of their numbers to the bug drones, but Cassandra estimated that if every floor was as jam packed as the first and second floors were, the building was probably housing nearly two hundred strong willed and well-armed survivors.

Lewis and his followers were welcomed with open arms, given food, extra ammunition, clothing, a place to sleep, and even water to bathe and groom with.

Cassandra was immensely comforted by the large group of people fighting the battle so well. She began to feel their pride and power as she settled next to Lewis for the first night's true solid rest on an actual bed mattress.

Cassandra picked up on the lifestyle the group led right away. While it was not much different than the one she had been leading all this time, there were subtle, but very noticeable and much needed differences.

While the people in the building mingled and ate their meals and told stories and even laughed as they joked and conversed, there was always a certain air of caution in everything they did. No one was ever alone or unarmed at any time.

The doors to every apartment in the ten floor building were always open and noise levels were kept to a minimum most of the time.

Food was conserved and rationed very well and very strictly, to be sure that everyone always had something to eat as often as possible. While this usually meant tiny meals, at least there was food for everyone more than once a day.

This alone was a massive difference, Cassandra thought as she ate a small bowl of warm breakfast oatmeal.

As the days passed she began to feel as confident as the members of the surviving band. While she was not sure if an end to the war against the creatures was nearing, she did feel that she might be able to hold out there until the end did come.

She began to find herself wondering how many other places in the country, in the world, were just like this. As she considered the huddled survivors, she began to wonder how they could all come together as one to defeat the creatures that had overrun the plant, or if such a victory was even possible.

Once again, her mind followed through all the same thoughts and ended up back at the same useless, unanswerable question. _Where did they come from_?

She shrugged those thoughts from her mind and looked at Lewis as she finished her meal. He smiled softly at her and she did the same. They talked softly for a while and decided to venture through the rest of the building, meet the other survivors and fully evaluate where they now called home.

Invited to join them, Carlos declined. He had an entire apartment full of medical supplies and patients to care for, and he seemed eager to get to work with several trained nurses and one other doctor in the new group.

Cassandra watched him prance off after cleaning his bowl with a damp cloth and placing it back in the dish pile on the floor. She smiled softly as he disappeared out of one apartment and down the corridor.

The breakfast dishware was cleaned up quickly, each person taking care of their own bowls and silverware with dampened towels and in just a few minutes after the meal had ended, the people living on the first floor broke off into little clusters to occupy their time in whatever ways they saw fit to do so.

Cassandra and Lewis walked through the corridor and headed up the stairs to the second floor. As the day progressed and the pair walked from floor to floor, Cassandra decided the set up in the building was quite unique. Each floor seemed to have a different theme to it in a way.

One floor of the building was packed full of people that simply wanted to hold out and wait for an end, in whatever way the end would come, though they all had weapons with which to fight when their chance came.

On other floors, there were groups of people who spent every waking second of the day praying in large groups, while others yet seemed to spend their time planning their re-invasion of their own world.

Another entire floor of the building was a dedicated school where children spent their days learning and playing and the adults who watched them tried hard to engage their minds and distract them from the world outside.

Each floor, each cluster of people, each individual person had their own energy, their own aura around them. It did not take long for Cassandra to decide which group of people she wanted to be amongst.

Lewis stayed with her and sometimes she would catch from him what she thought was a longing stare. As the time passed by slowly, the apartments building became home and as the weather turned even worse, Cassandra was glad to have a home and something of a family to share it with.

She tried hard to keep her mind focused, but sometimes it would drift back to the life she once had and she would find herself thinking about her own family and her future as she thought it would be.

Sometimes during her sleep, she would wake with a start as a terrible image of Stephanie's body thumping to the floor covered in blood with the horrific chest bursting creature spawning and she would clench her own chest while she tried to catch her breath and remember where she was and what was going on.

Lewis tried to content her as best he could, and they spent much of their time discussing what they thought and hoped the end of all this might be.

They imagined the end of the bug war, and a revitalization of the human race once again and of course they hoped it would come sooner than later.

During a quiet and still moment, Lewis offered Cassandra a steaming cup of hot chocolate while they sat in one apartment's bedroom and watched the winds whip the bare trees while little icicles glistened in the moon light. Lewis and Cassandra talked softly for a long while.

She watched him fidget and run his hands through his dark hair. His dark skin, for the first time in a long while was clean and his bruises and injuries were healed. Cassandra, too, finally clean from head to toe for the first time in weeks, was stronger every day.

Her wounds had healed and only scars of the battles she survived under the many layers of clothing.

Lewis eyed her with a soft smile and intent stare and after a brief pause he leaned in towards her and kissed her cheek.

Cassandra shut her eyes and felt his lips against her. She listened to him take and hold a nervous breath, and inch closer to her as he gently gripped her shoulders.

Cassandra sighed softly and tipped her head towards him, bringing her lips closer to his. He pressed his lips to hers and she slowly reached towards his cleanly shaven chin and placed her palm on his face, kissing him back softly, apprehensively.

She dropped her head, lowered her eyes and pulled back slightly away from him.

"Lewis… I'm sorry… I just…" she sighed, seeing the disappointment in his eyes. "I just can't. It doesn't feel right. I just can't do this."

Lewis nodded and pulled away, a brief but awkward silence filling the room.

"Movement!" A shouting voice rang out through the hallways.

Cassandra and Lewis glanced at each other and looked out the window. Activity hastened in the hallway and in the apartment as people went into high alert.

All heads turned towards windows and doors to the outside per the watchman. Cassandra peered out and scanned the dark streets.

The storm raging outside made it nearly impossible to see even just a few feet out of the window and even more impossible to imagine that people would be out in such weather, at least by choice.

However, surely as the watchman called, Cassandra began to see an unbelievable sight through the blinding snow.

Ten people, or walking piles of clothing, were heading down the street not far from the apartment building. Tanner quickly called out and a group of volunteers, Lewis included, shot out into the night to fetch the lost travelers.

Cassandra followed Lewis to the door, but remained inside. Carlos caught up with her just as the door swung open and a bitter wind filled the hallway of the large building. She shivered from the cold as she updated Carlos on what was going on and the door slammed shut.

Restless and worried people waited in silence clinging to their weapons and looking to one another as though each person might have the answers they sought.

Several others that peered out of the windows called out to those in the hallways and Cassandra could hear the same event taking place on the upper floors too as each person wondered what was going to happen next. There was such an excitement in the air, Cassandra could feel it.

Humans were becoming scarce, and to see a small band walking through the night in the middle of a severe snow storm was arousing in so many different ways. She felt nervous as the door swung back open.

Tanner and Lewis were the first two to step back inside. Cassandra immediately felt a rush of relief through her body seeing Lewis enter. Behind him came the group that had been wandering the streets, and behind them, the rest of the hold out volunteers that had gone out to fetch them.

The ten people collapsed once inside the hallway, gasping for air, obviously exhausted. Dozens of people began to rush to get dry clothing, warm drinks, and food. Carlos immediately dropped to his knees to evaluate the people shivering on the floor.

Cassandra took Lewis's hand and watched with him as Carlos looked over the people. As others helped the newcomers out of their cold, icy clothing, Cassandra pressed her eyebrows together and glanced at Lewis, who was staring at the newcomers just as intently.

It seemed suddenly that nearly everyone in the crammed hallway knew what was wrong with the new arrivals. They were not appalled by their bluish tinted skin, nor were they taken back by the frozen blood that covered their clothes, or the acid burns that some were suffering from.

It was the noticeable gashes in every man's head, and the black and blue throats that they bared that caused the concern amongst the group in the hallway.

The ten people seemed to stare uncertainly at those around them. Carlos took a closer look at one of the newcomer's injuries to his head and throat and then the others seemed to begin to understand what was going on.

They complained that they had blacked out during the attack they had been through or perhaps just from the cold, but as they looked to one another and saw the marks dug into their heads, they began to realize what they had been unconscious through.

"How long have you been out there?" Tanner asked with a gritty, unsympathetic voice.

"I...I d...don't know." One man answered softly, stuttering against his own frozen jaws.

Cassandra noticed how Tanner was gripping his hand pistol at his side, ticking it angrily with his fingertips. One member of the new group noticed this as well as his eyes dropped to focus in on Tanner's hand.

The newcomers seemed to be suddenly coming to grips with the reality of what was about to happen to them. One man began to sob. Carlos tried to calm him as he and some others helped the group to their feet to get them to the hospital area.

A man in the middle of the pack began to breathe heavily, joining his crying friend. He too began to act as though he just realized he was on death's door.

He pleaded for his own life and begged not to die such a way. Within a moment his words were cut off as he began to cough and gag as he tried to continue to cry and plead. He shook his head and grabbed his chest.

Before anyone could even attempt to stop him, Tanner lifted his weapon and shot the man two times quickly. The group in the hallway jumped back, and those alongside the coughing man fell to the sides, trying to avoid being shot themselves.

One bullet landed squarely into the man's head, putting him immediately out of the misery he begged not to be in, and the other seared through the hatchling creature that was trying to begin its gruesome path to the outside world.

Tanner looked to the next man with a determined look in his eyes. Lewis jumped over to him shouting for him to stop. The two men argued loudly.

"It has to be done!" Tanner shouted. "We've all been here before, every one of us in here! It has to be done!"

No one else in the corridor seemed to disagree with Tanner.

"You have no right to be their executioner!" Lewis howled, trying to wrestle Tanner's arm away from the cold and scared hosts.

"We can't allow any more of those creatures to be born!" Tanner yelled back.

"He's right!" A raspy voice called out through frozen lungs.

The hallway fell silent and all heads turned to one of the infected visitors. The man stood up, tears in his eyes, and walked towards Tanner as Lewis released his grip. His eyes were focused intently on the gun in the man's grip.

"We're all dead anyway. I don't want to die like that, and I sure as hell don't want another one of those things running around because of me." He said in a forced whisper as he stood squarely and nervously in front of Tanner and his gun.

"Wait! Wait!" Carlos called out pleadingly. "Just wait!"

All heads turned towards him. The tension in the hallway was thicker than the falling snow in the streets outside.

"Maybe there is another way for this to end," Carlos added once he had the group's attention.

"What are you saying?" The infected man asked.

"I'm a doctor, I... I.. was...asked, a long time ago by the military to try to surgically remove the embryo from the chests of those infected." He explained quickly and pleadingly.

The new group seemed enthused by this news and the first man turned to him.

"Did it work?" He asked hopefully.

Carlos shifted his eyes to the man trying to pull himself off the ground.

"I never got the chance," he said solemnly.

"Let me try."

A contemplative silence fell in the hallway.

"That will be a huge drain on our resources," someone calculated aloud.

"It's worth it to try," Carlos insisted, staring at the infected newcomer intently.

After a delay, Tanner nodded, and Carlos ushered one of the nine remaining new comers through the hallway towards the designated hospital apartment.

His volunteer nurses joined him quickly as he rushed through his list of what he wanted. Lewis and Cassandra followed him into the apartment, offering to help if they could as the rest of the group watched in wonder from the area near the door.

Cassandra was quickly put to use to make a clean surface area on the coffee table and the floor in the middle of the living room as the others scrambled to get the needed equipment ready.

Carlos turned away from the group for a moment, washing his hands thoroughly as he prepared himself to attempt something so desperately drastic.

He was not convinced that this procedure would even work in the most sterile and controlled hospital environments, but it was all that they had left to try at that point before another person died. As the boiled surgical instruments were pulled out of their pots and placed onto a cookie pan that had been cleaned and heated over a fire, the first volunteer for surgery laid himself warily on the floor.

"This will make you sleep. You won't feel anything." Carlos said softly as he injected the man with a medication.

"If this works," Carlos said to the silent group around him, "it will give us a fighting chance to save infected people and stop this war."

In just a few minutes the man's eyes rolled back into his head. Despite the frigid air in the room, Cassandra could see sweat beading up on Carlos's forehead.

He pulled himself together and cleared his throat, fully aware of the watchful eyes that filled the room around him before he made his incision into the man's bare, clean chest. A thin line of blood oozed out of the fresh cut skin and Carlos glanced up to one assistant, who reading his mind, brought over the cookie tray upon which rested an instrument that looked like some kind of torture device.

Cassandra gritted her teeth and turned her head partially away as the instrument cut through the man's rib cage down the massive incision in his chest.

Carlos's face was unreadable behind the mask that covered most of his face, but his eyes were wide and as he placed the bloody instrument on another tray, he stared into the man's chest.

"Jesus," he whispered softly.

Lewis and Cassandra, along with many others, crept forward and craned their necks to see inside the man's chest.

"What is it?" Tanner asked as he approached hesitantly.

Carlos dabbed away some pooling blood and shook his head, glancing around at the people that were drawing nearer.

Cassandra leaned close enough to see, though at first glance, she did not quite understand what she was looking at. She stared for a moment and then realized that just next to and under the grayish pink mass in the man's chest that were his lungs was a moving, twitching tail.

Carlos reached into the cavity of the man's chest with a pair of forceps and delicately peeled back a flap of the man's lungs, revealing part of his beating heart and even more of the monstrous fetus.

The thing was laying in a crescent shape inside the man's chest, between the lobes of his lungs, and next to and around his heart.

The thing's eyeless, curved head, which was capped off with a mouth full of sharp, almost metallic looking teeth, rested firmly under what Carlos identified as the man's aorta.

"It's so intertwined around the organs and vessels. The second this thing's head moves, the aorta snaps and the thing pushes through the heart, the lungs, and out through the ribcage." Carlos said quietly, as though instructing a class. "I don't see how this animal can be removed safely."

Carlos stared wide eyed at the group around him as though looking for the answer.

"All right, that's enough," Tanner whispered.

"What, what are you saying, you can't help us?" Another of the infected victims cried and pleaded as though Carlos could change his mind just for him.

Carlos stayed quiet and stared back in stunned contemplation at the thing in the man's chest. Tanner stepped forward, gun in hand and ready to be used.

Suddenly, the wretched beast inside the unconscious man's chest snapped to life, rupturing the aorta just as Carlos said. With no skin over it to contain the blood, a massive spray of fresh warm blood shot up like it was being forced through a high pressure nozzle.

It sprayed several people as they jumped aside shouting and the monster, animated into life, sat up out of the open hole and hissed its way into the world.

Without hesitation, and howling like a mad man, Tanner fired his hand pistol until it was empty. Several people in the room shouted and bolted out of sight, fearing they might be hit by a stray bullet.

Cassandra dropped to the ground and stared at the now dead man on the floor. The creature was on the ground next to his body, its acidic blood burning a hole through the fake wood panels below it.

She looked up and saw the rest of the group of walking hosts trying to escape their doom. Tanner had killed two more before the rest jumped on him and started beating him relentlessly.

Lewis tried to intervene, but was thrown sideways by two of the host men. One fell to his knees before Carlos and pleaded with him to save him from the bitter end he faced, to carve the creature out of his chest.

Carlos shook his head and tried to make the man understand that he could not do as he was asked. Unwilling to hear denial, the man grabbed hold of Carlos's throat and wrestled him to the ground, screaming to him to save his life.

Cassandra pulled herself up and thundered over to Carlos's side, screaming at the terrified man to release his grip on Carlos. She drew a loaded pistol and aimed, howling at the man to stop.

The man looked up and did as she insisted. He released his grip from Carlos, who pulled back, massaging his throat and gasping for air.

Without any word, the panicked man darted at Cassandra. Perhaps he had hoped to get the gun from her hands for himself, or perhaps he was counting on being shot, she never stopped to consider.

With a flash of anger raging in her eyes, and a remorseful sorrow at the same time for the fate of the hosts, she pulled the trigger repeatedly until the bloody heap of a corpse fell backwards and collapsed into the double sliding doors on the other end of the living room.

Carlos glanced at her gratefully and she quickly cast him a concerned look before turning her head towards Lewis. She saw him pulling himself up to his feet and glancing at Tanner, who was lying in a bloody heap on the ground, not moving.

All at once, the seven other hosts that remained began to display the now familiar signs of the end of their infants' gestations. Each man and woman gasped for air and dropped to the ground.

Some grabbed their chest with looks of amazement on their faces, as though they did not believe it would actually happen to them, or they could not have prepared themselves for the amount of pain they were feeling. Others cried out with teary eyes and looked to the ones staring at them for relief from their agony.

Cassandra looked to Lewis who cast her a determined glance. They both readied their handguns and the stunned crowd of survivors piled in the hallway watched and stared in silence, heads lowered. They said and did nothing besides accept the inevitable.

The host group, writhing and crying with pain with only seconds left to their agonizing life, knelt or dropped to the ground and did the best they could to face Lewis and Cassandra, who both aimed their weapons in regretful silence.

Their guns fired in unison, two bullets for each of the nine suffering people at their feet; one in the head first, and one through the chest next. The room quickly filled with gunpowder and acid.

The stench of cooking flesh and internal organs and boiling blood seeped into every orifice Cassandra had. She trembled with disgust and left the room in a hurry, keeling over a toilet in the next apartment out of sight. Lewis stood shaking on the spot, overlooking nine dead souls, pale and shaking.

Silent from a great loss of life and hope, the people in the apartment building remained awake through most of the night, each dealing in their own ways with the events that had taken place that evening. Cassandra and Lewis changed clothes and cleaned the blood from their faces and hands. Cassandra stared at the white basin of the sink she cleaned herself over as it turned pink from the blood.

"I feel like Lady Macbeth," she whispered.

"What?" Lewis questioned.

"'Out, out damned spot," she quoted. "What have we done?"

Lewis sighed and gripped her shoulder.

"What we had to do. Those people were dead already. You know that. Not even Carlos could have helped them. We can't afford not one more of those creatures."

"But there always will be one more," Cassandra sighed. "Until we're all gone. We're all going to die. Everyone, everything, everywhere, it's just all going to become one great big hive. What's the point, Lewis, why even try?"

She broke down sobbing and Lewis cradled her on the floor of the washroom. It was not until morning that the pair returned to the main group reluctantly, both wiping tears from their reddened eyes.

The people in the hallways and the apartment units were silent and saddened. Only a few looked up as Cassandra and Carlos walked through the hallway and found Carlos. Some acknowledged them, while others ignored them all together.

Cassandra was quite sure she could feel her soul being burned by the glares she was cast. As they rounded the hallway corner, they saw a train of people carrying the cadavers out into the street and down the blocks to the massive burn pile that was still smoldering.

Cassandra had no appetite to eat that morning. She stared out a window with Lewis next to her and no one else around them.

The snowstorm had passed and only a few small flakes danced in the wind, adding to the six inch blanket that covered the ground. It was a white Christmas; the first Cassandra could remember having in years.

It never snowed in California, and if New York City was ever blanketed in the fluffy white stuff, the heat of the city melted it before school could even be delayed. The cold, empty streets outside the apartment window now, allowed for snow from the last snowfall to remain while even more fell overnight.

She glanced off to the side and saw the caravan of bodies being carried down the street and dropped her eyes to the ground, feeling a surge of emotions running through her. She sat by the window most of the day and as the late afternoon fell, Carlos joined them, and the three sipped delicately from their cups of hot chocolate when all of a sudden, singing rang out.

The voices were lovely and eerie at the same time, as though they did not belong in Cassandra's world. Her world was a place of great sin, horrible death, and necessary evil. The singers on the upper floor rang out with songs of peace, love, happiness, angels, and Christ, none of which she felt she would know ever again.

Carlos and Lewis tipped their heads towards the ceiling and listened to voices ringing out throughout most of the evening. Their sweet hymns sank deep into their hearts, and must have struck into the rest of the people in the building, for others joined in the singing too.

Cassandra had no songs in her heart, but she shut her eyes and listened to voices begin to fill with hope once more until the hour grew late and the need for silence overtook all the people in the building.

Several days passed and a New Year was rung in, in a less than traditional, mostly silent fashion.

With the passing of one year and the start of a new one, brought a fleeting moment of hope to all of the people in the little apartment world.

For at least a few more hours, they fantasized about a new retaliation, a new dawning of the human race. But as dawn broke through the cloudy sky, so did the calls of the black monsters, the bugs, the bringers of misery, suffering, and death.

Cassandra's anger grew in a flash. She despised them more than ever.

Their screeching shrieks as they drew nearer to the human hideout seemed to taunt and torment the people behind the building's walls.

It was as though the creatures were calling out their imminent victory, bragging about it, being sure that the people within knew that their deaths were on the horizon.

Cassandra clenched her jaws and prepared herself for battle, grabbing extra weapons and as much ammunition as she could carry.

In just a few minutes, every gun-wielding member of the hold out group was poised and ready for action, silently preparing themselves for the attack as they watched the streets and listened to the shrill voices rising up through the air.

Peering out windows, they watched and anxiously awaited the first sign of the black bodies that clashed with the white untouched snow in the streets. Suddenly, shouting and gunshots and stomping feet echoed through the building.

The noises were so muffled and distant it was hard hear, but with every door along the stairwell open, the sounds echoed down sure enough. It did not take long to realize that creatures had changed their attack plan and had begun their strike from the rooftop first.

All that the people on the lower floors could do was listen and wait. Cassandra listened attentively to the sounds of gunfire echoing down through the upstairs hallways and the satanic screeching of the creatures growing ever louder as they descended the levels in mass.

Suddenly, gunfire rang out from an apartment at the end of the hallway. All heads turned in that direction as the building floor filled with a deafening variety of weapon fire and screaming people.

The creatures, Cassandra realized, had planned their assault well, distracting everyone with the top floor attack, they were able to overtake those on the first floor nearly unaware, and press on quickly with a two prong attack.

Severely outnumbered, the people on the first floor were forced to fall back as they tried to avoid the acid spray of the creatures they managed to kill.

Cassandra kept close to Lewis and Carlos and they swarmed with the rest of the people in the corridors back to the rear entrance of the building as they did their best to kill the creatures that overtook them. The creatures zipped over the tops of peoples' heads, galloping along the ceiling in utter defiance of gravity and leaping down onto their panicked prey.

The monsters killed very few people; instead, they used their tails to strike and subdue their attackers, or clawed and bit their legs and bodies so severely to incapacitate their victims.

As Cassandra backed off with a large group, she watched a small army of face huggers enter the corridor and leap in every direction, nearly never missing their intended victim.

Human bodies fell on top of one another and shot bug bodies fell on top of those and soon, the corridor reeked of gunpowder, burning acid, and seared human flesh.

The escaping mob of people slammed into the back door so hard, the door sprung open and sent people falling backwards over one another. Trying to avoid being stampeded herself, Cassandra curled up into a ball and tried to roll out of the way.

She felt a set of hands grab her arm and yank her hard to her feet. Lewis had pulled her out of immediate stampede danger and Carlos leaped off to the other side of the crowd as panicked people pulled themselves to their feet and bolted away.

Carlos shouted, but over the screaming and continued gunfire from inside the building, his words drowned out, so he pointed.

Lewis and Cassandra both whipped around with haste in just enough time to point their weapons towards the rush of bugs that was about to overtake them. Skillfully jumping off to the side to avoid the acid back splash while they fired, Cassandra and Lewis were parted by dozens of the monstrous black creatures.

Cassandra bolted away, screaming to Lewis, though she could not see him through the onslaught of the massive black creatures. Carlos ran over to her and the pair was quickly joined by dozens of others who united their weapons to form a large line of gunfire against the attacking creatures.

Slowly, the defensive line was able to eat away at the numbers of their attackers, while the battle raged on inside the building. Cassandra scanned the thick pile of sizzling corpses searching for any sign of Lewis, but she did not see any hint of him along the battle field.

Carlos tipped his head to her right and she turned to see Lewis speeding up to her from the other end of the block. He cast her a quick smile, but wasted no time in hurrying the large group of people clear of the area.

They instantly bolted off down the street, trying to double back to the front of the apartment building to try to help whomever they could inside.

As Cassandra raced down the block and toward the street that the massive burn pile was on, she found herself glancing off to each side.

To her right, she saw what remained of hundreds of human bodies that had been ignited weeks ago, and to her left still remained the cardboard signs about the end of the world and the tank in the middle of the road with its massive acid burn through the front of the machine.

The man in the fur coat was still there as well, although he was splayed across the top of the tank with his chest split in two.

Without further consideration, Cassandra concentrated all of her efforts on running. Gunfire began to ring out from the very back of the group and everyone halted and spun around.

They were being pursued by dozens of the angry monsters. In a moment, the group of survivors scattered and prepared for a last stand against their attackers.

Cassandra, Lewis, and Carlos piled behind a set of stairs at the front of one nearby building and shot non stop, reloading as quickly as they possibly could.

Cassandra glanced across the street and saw a dozen more people huddled around the corner of one building, each craning their head and weapons around just enough to fire.

Scattered throughout the street, small pockets of people fired their guns dry for what seemed like hours. While it had only been several minutes until the street fell quiet, Cassandra felt as though the battle had raged on endlessly.

She shivered from the cold air and the surge of adrenaline and fear coursing through her veins as she and the others stood and stared at the street they had littered with bodies of the torturous creatures.

A few straggling people from inside the apartment building made their way slowly out of the door. The gunfire quieted and for a moment, the world was still as people stifled tears and sobs and tried to regroup in the snowy street.

It took hours for the effects of adrenaline to wear off. The group ran and walked and jogged and walked more, trying to put as much distance between them and their last battlefield as possible.

But as the afternoon passed and their bodies wore down, the group began to slow. Darkness was quickly approaching and the temperature was increasingly colder as the time passed.

Lewis spotted a fairly good shelter prospect just a few blocks ahead and the group headed towards it promptly.

Cassandra tried to keep up with Lewis as they crossed through a snow covered parking lot. She was exhausted and shivering from cold and fear.

She glanced off across the street beyond another large parking lot with an untouched layer of snow on it and thought she saw in the distance, just at the edge of the tree line that bordered the parking lot in front of the grocery store, something shimmering, moving across the snow.

She thought she saw a flicker of blue against a clear ripple. She thought she saw the shape of a man. She frowned and glanced back but it was gone.


	19. Chapter 18

**CHAPTER EIGHTEEN**

Cassandra lay curled up under a faded plaid blanket, snuggled warmly near the smoldering remains of a small fire.

The cool springtime air filled the room and she shivered as she unconsciously attempted to stay warm in between the frayed edges of the blanket.

She tucked herself in a little closer to Lewis, who wrapped his arm around her. Cassandra opened her eyes slightly and smiled. She glanced around and noticed that most of the people in the room were sleeping. Carlos was draped across one of the few chairs in the area, mouth open as he slept.

She shut her eyes again as she noted that the morning watchmen were sitting casually, quietly talking to each other, not concerned about any predators on the outside. This was now their routine. This was their method of survival.

Cassandra, Lewis, and Carlos had stayed alive so long because of it. Those in the group that harbored in a former multi-million dollar mansion were alive because of the routine, because they had adjusted to the new way of life that had taken over the world.

Those that had died, Cassandra could not afford to spend any time considering.

The war was done. The creatures; the bugs, the serpents, the devil, whatever one of the hundreds of names she had heard applied to them, now ruled the world that she knew.

The human race, as far as Cassandra knew, had usurped it supplies and had no corner of the Earth to run to without the bugs pressing in.

With every new person or pair or group that Cassandra encountered there always came a new rush of hope, a new rumor, a new whisper about a working radio network or a plan of attack, but nothing ever came to be.

Entire cities had been transformed into massive hives, and as survivors migrated and ran into each other, rumors were spread far and wide of hives so large there were two queens in them. This massive, egg producing creatures, standing easily sixteen feet tall, more than twice the height of their hellish offspring, were as intelligent as they were deadly.

The Queen cared about only one thing; her precious children. She could control them, direct them, and she seemed to know her prey well. When she was involved in any fight, humans were almost always doomed. It was luck and determination combined with massive amounts of ammunition and heavy loss of life that would bring down a queen.

Despite only encountering a queen a few times, Cassandra had learned very quickly to respect their power and fear their wrath. She prayed silently to never encounter another one again.

She considered herself quite lucky to have survived through all that she had been through, but she knew she couldn't have done it without Lewis' guidance and friendship. He had helped her escape from bad situations where she might have otherwise cowered in fear and cried herself until death.

The injuries that she had sustained over the winter months could have been fatal if not for Carlos's care, she thought, too, as she rubbed her left thigh, where a large claw mark was forever engraved into her skin, just up from the holes in her leg that had been punctured straight into bone from an earlier attack.

The humans had learned, after months of cold and hardship, to avoid the heavily infested areas and the bugs would lay dormant.

Apparently the animals did not need to eat to survive; they existed only to procreate in their most deadly of fashions. If the surviving bands of humans stayed quiet and far enough away from hives, survival was possible.

Life, if you could call it that, went on as best as it could. Babies were born. People got sick. Some died of injuries and malnutrition.

Any buildings that were still standing had been heavily raided, and supplies had run nearly completely out in almost every town Cassandra followed Lewis in to.

The new routine of life was rotating guard duty around the clock, making sure that groups scanned every conceivable point of attack.

They had learned much about the creatures in all this time. They had figured out the entire life cycle of the creature, they had begun to understand the Queen and her mentality.

They understood their enemy well enough to know that humans, running short on weapons, and food and utilizing almost all their energy to stay warm and well, could not beat the bugs. The only way to survive was to hide and run and hide more.

So, Lewis led his group and the changing faces within it, to survival, not to battle.

The idea of heading to warmer climates had long since been forgotten. They had not traveled far in months, trapped and cut off by hordes of drones and hives, surviving in any way they could became priority.

It was nearly impossible to find vehicles with fuel, and clear roads to drive them on. The animals could easily outrun a speeding car over a short distance, and it was too difficult to speed a long distance without hitting into a traffic jam or impassible roads.

When the human survivors needed food, supplies or safety, all travel was done on foot. With children, adults, a few elderly, and some pregnant women or new mothers cradling young infants, foot travel was difficult and slow, and often traded for huddled comfort inside a home, a factory, or a shopping mall while smaller and faster runners braved the dangers to gather supplies for everyone else.

When the group did travel, they carried what they could and what they needed, and they had a pre-planned escape pattern for every situation, custom designed for each new building or house they harbored in.

They tried their best to conserve ammunition, and if they were lucky to find any, they would stock up. While feeding themselves was a difficult task, feeding ammunition to their weapons was a top priority.

Stress, desolation, and daily fear of death created difficult situations, fights, and human on human killings.

Saving the human race, one person at a time was the only mission, and while supporting a group was not without challenges, it still made Cassandra feel like she had something of a family.

Cassandra spent little time thinking about the inevitable extinction of the human race. Still, though, she knew it would come.

It was an unspoken truth within the group; there was simply no reason to verbally revisit the idea. If they weren't killed outright, eventually the human race would die by attrition, with the difficulties and dangers of bearing and raising a child in a world overrun by an alien animal no one understood.

"I will tell you one thing, though," one of the women in the group Cassandra sat with said with a light laugh.

The five women chatted lightly before the small fire in the fireplace in the middle of the kitchen, sipping hot tea and finishing up a warm soup lunch.

"I never thought the apocalypse would be so good for my figure!"

They group laughed loudly. Cassandra thought it felt good to laugh; it wasn't something people seemed to do often anymore. It was nearly impossible to be in good spirits while struggling to survive, but the last week in the mansion had been recuperative for everyone, and it showed.

"Seriously!" The woman added in after a good laugh. "I mean, I can't get my manicures anymore, but I'm finally on the diet and exercise program my doctor kept telling me I needed. I've never looked better!"

As the shifts changed, Cassandra woke up and took to her duty, serving as lookout with Lewis and another man, for a few hours in the afternoon.

The large home, one of three at the end of a cul-de-sac in a once wealthy subdivision, though suffering from moths of neglect, had an air of the beauty it once possessed. Over five dozen people made the three homes their own.

The winter passed slowly, but eventually, little whitish pink blossoms on trees in the yard began to emerge in stark contrast to the dark and dreary skies and cold rains that seemed to fall every other day.

Cassandra walked up the winding staircase of the elaborate home and down a lengthy corridor past two bedrooms towards her posted watch spot on a balcony.

She silently knew that at some point they would be forced out of this home just as they had been time and time again. She perched herself on the balcony outside the master bedroom while Lewis and the other man, Scott, took different vantage points in the room's other windows.

She glanced quietly across the vast lawn and let her eyes scan the trees and the roads in the sprawling subdivision. The homes bordered a former golf course, providing a long view of open, flat land, which made guard duty easier.

There was no activity and the group was enjoying more than a week of rest and recovery before they would start walking again. It was a wise choice they had made to forget about trying to hide out in cities, nearer to everything useful.

Larger cities led to bigger hives and more death and destruction and Cassandra had had more than enough encounters with hives for one lifetime, she decided.

She sighed and glanced solemnly over the lawn, noting that despite the death that surrounding every moment of life everywhere, flowers were beginning to shoot green stalks up through the unkempt grounds in search of sunlight.

Little sprouts were peeking out from the ground all around and the world, rotating on as it always did, turned to green as spring marched in. The weather had been a nearly non stop steady drizzle for the last week, only periodically pausing enough for brief intervals of teasing sunlight.

Cassandra found herself idly wondering how nature could just simply roll on so blind to all that was happening, but she shrugged and shook her head. It was silly to think such things as though nature could opt to change its way if it could, or put an end to the infestation that had taken place.

She found herself suddenly picturing a world locked in darkness and rain or an eternal winter, because nature lost hope and stopped. Before she realized it she was finding herself jealous of nature for not stopping its normal progression of life in the face of the terror that had overtaken the planet.

She began to wish for something that she had not caught herself wishing for in quite a while, a time and place where life was the way it should be.

She imagined herself and Stephanie just beginning to shape their dreams of their lives. She sighed and rolled her eyes back into her head as she forced such foolish thoughts from her mind. She purged the memory of Stephanie from her thoughts, and with it, any thoughts of a life she once led.

She glanced back behind her into the bedroom and caught Lewis's eye. They exchanged small smiles and then turned to continue monitoring the outside world for the remainder of their rotation.

She tried to pretend she hadn't overheard his conversation with Scott about why the two of them hadn't 'hooked up' as of yet. Cassandra knew Lewis was disappointed. She considered him a dear friend. He and Carlos had been with her since nearly the beginning. They were as tight as any family could get.

Over the months, the long migrations for miles a day, the supply runs, the battles, the scuffles amongst members of the group, the cold nights huddled together for warmth, there were always stray looks, gentle touches, and warm advances.

Cassandra glanced over to Lewis who was smiling casually as he chatted with Scott. She had thought about being with him, but there was reservation in her heart. She had watched people, families and lovers, struggle to survive over the many passing months.

She had watched three marriages, four births, and countless deaths. The new way of life was one of struggle to survive; there wasn't much room for anything else.

She watched Lewis quietly, and tried to picture herself with him, but she only saw blood and sadness and death. She sighed and looked back out across the sprawling views of the golf course beyond the subdivision.

Suddenly a massive boom resounded through the air, it echoed through the empty subdivision and bounced off the sides of the hills as it reverberated through her ears.

Lewis jumped and ran out onto the patio next to Cassandra as they both stared over the trees down the rolling hill, towards the city that they had long since evacuated.

Their eyes grew wide as they watched massive flames shoot up from a great blue flash of light. A thick circle of deep blueish gray smoke rose up in a mushroom cloud and was immediately chased by a blaze of bright blue and orange flames that looked large enough to engulf the whole city.

Everyone in the house was rushing with excitement out onto the hillside front lawn to see the light show against the rainy early afternoon sky.

As though the burst of fire and flames was a well-planned and long awaited attack, the people on the lawn below began to howl and cheer, cursing at the creatures that had overtaken the city far beyond their encampment.

Lewis, Cassandra, and many others from the second floor scampered down the stairs and joined their companions on the front lawn, watching the flames spread for hours, each talking excitedly about what triggered the massive explosion.

As evening set, the group had fallen into a deep discussion about what happened. Some simply believed that the creatures accidently set off a gas line fire and blew up the city and their hive with it in a massive accident.

Lewis and a few others thought the mushroom shaped cloud looked very similar to a nuclear bomb, and suspected that perhaps the creatures inadvertently ignited some leftover weapon that could have remained there from a military organized attack from so long ago.

It was also possible, others suspected, that the animals had inadvertently brought such a weapon back with them into their hive and triggered it somehow.

Of course, the widest hope was that the massive explosion was a sign of a renewed effort to destroy the animals and reclaim the planet for humans.

There was concern over radiation fallout, but figuring they had to die of something sooner or later, by nightfall the group had agreed that at daybreak, they would start on a journey towards the city to see for themselves what exactly happened.

When morning came, Cassandra and most of the others were waiting on the front lawn, bouncing like excited children on Christmas morning.

The idea of an entire city-sized hive having been destroyed was almost too much to handle. Hate and curiosity urged the group to see it all more clearly and as some waited for the rest to prepare for the trek down the side of the mountain in into the city miles away, they found themselves almost unable to control their excitement.

Once organized, the group marched away from the wealthy estate and down the access road off the side of the mountain.

They wound down the mountain and marched through the empty streets, cautiously scanning their surroundings as they walked for signs of their enemies, but also keeping an eye towards the still rising smoke as though it was some illusion brought on by massive boredom or excited imaginations and might disappear if they stopped looking towards it.

It took the group hours to reach the edge of the city. Lewis led the group to a slower pace and looked around the destruction.

They carefully navigated the streets between the heavily damaged buildings, studying their surroundings habitually, expecting an attack from any angle.

The city seemed deserted of both man and beast, and now was nothing more than a few smoldering cinder blocks and piles of rubble.

The heat from the remains was almost unbearable, and some of the piles of rubble still had a core lit to a bright blue from the heat burning within.

Cassandra stared at it all with wide eyes but remained quiet; it was hard to believe what she was even seeing. The amount of destruction truly did look like a nuclear bomb had gone off, not that she had actually seen one to know.

It was difficult to imagine how the animals could have done such a thing to themselves, and as the group walked on through block after block of decimation, they pondered aloud the same questions.

Some of the group still cheered and howled their delight at the destruction of the bugs. Regardless of how it happened, the end result was the same.

"There's no way anything could have survived this blast. The whole hive has to be dead." Lewis whispered in soft shock.

Cassandra glanced at Carlos and Lewis, both of whom seemed utterly perplexed by what caused such a massive explosion. The sights around them were surreal.

There was still a thick smoke that enveloped many leveled blocks of the city. The grayish smoke lingered in the air making it difficult to see but a few feet, while within some of the still smoldering piles of charred remains of the buildings that once stood in the city, glowed a hot blue core that created a hazy halo in the smoky fog.

Silently, Cassandra walked through, over, and around the wreckage. The powerful stench of thousands, perhaps more, disintegrated bodies of both bugs and humans filled her nostrils and brought tears to her eyes.

The creature's acidic blood released a foul sulfur-like odor into the smoke that stung her face and permeated her body as she walked.

Slowly, the group of excited, perplexed, and apprehensive people shifted their way through the remains of the city until they soon came upon what even the most inexperience layperson could recognize as the point of origin of the blast that leveled the city-hive.

A massive crater at least an entire city block in circumference was embedded into the roadways and rubble around it. Blackened streaks from the center of the pit sprawled out from the very center most point of the hole, pinpointing the location of the device that had ruptured.

The core of the blast was in the middle of the road, just a few feet from where there would have been buildings on either side. While it was evident that gas lines below ground had exploded and helped to keep the fires blazing throughout most of the night, neither Lewis nor the rest of the group could identify the actual source of the explosion just from overlooking the blast site.

"Maybe they spontaneously combusted?" Someone asked.

"Yeah, maybe they'll all just explode and die." Another added wishfully.

Cassandra could not keep her lips from cracking the slightest of a smile at the thought of the deadly creatures suddenly calling off the infestation and self-destructing, ridding the world of the threat they brought with them.

She looked to Lewis who seemed deep in thought as he stared intently at the empty burned crater in the road. His eyebrows sank into a deep frown and his lips were moving ever so slightly.

"What are you thinking?" Cassandra asked.

Lewis glanced at her and then back to the crater.

"I want to know what they did. Maybe… we can use it to our advantage, maybe we can repeat it - kill them all. Blow the whole damn planet up." He answered with a definable tone of hatred in his voice.

Cassandra opened her mouth to say a word, but catching a glace from Carlos on the other side of Lewis, she closed her jaws and stared on in silence.

Once each person in the group had absorbed their fill of the destruction of the hive, they began to fan out and explore the damage in every direction.

By the time they had all met again in a partially unaffected area at the far edge of the explosion to report their findings to one another, the group had totaled that a thirty block radius had been affected by the explosion.

While the center of the area suffered the most damage and was nothing more than a disintegrated pile of charred rubble, the buildings and businesses a dozen blocks away in every direction were burned.

Cassandra had walked through many blocks that had roadways covered in glass shards blown out from the windows and doors of the buildings along the streets. The sides of the still standing buildings were discolored to black from the blast and some had large chunks blown out of their sides.

Other, smaller buildings, not able to withstand the damage to them, collapsed. The roadways all around had fractured and some of the still standing buildings shifted sideways.

As they had walked on, Cassandra and the others came to halt in a small park that had seen only slight damage from the events of the night before.

The group gathered in the park once their curiosity had been temporarily appeased within the remnants of the city. For some time, they discussed what they saw and what they thought had happened.

Cassandra listened quietly to the details about the destruction of the hive and the city surrounding it. If any of the creatures had indeed survived the blast, they had obviously fled for their lives.

The thought of the frightened creatures fleeing their home comforted Cassandra and many others for a short while, allowing for a few more cheerful praises of the explosion that destroyed the hive.

Cassandra deeply hoped that the apparently intelligent animals were smart enough to appreciate how it felt to be forced from home because of a great uprising. Somehow she doubted it, but she decided to play with that thought anyway.

As the months had passed, mankind as a whole and each individual person Cassandra had encountered had been waging war against the creatures that had mysteriously appeared on the face of the planet in the middle of the night.

At first, the threat was approached with slight caution and mild curiosity from a mass of naive people that underestimated the effects of the monstrous creatures. As time passed and the battle turned bitter and millions of people were forced to flee their homes, hope had been lost.

Cassandra had no idea how many just like her were currently living in small or large clusters, simply trying to survive. She did not even know what all those people were surviving for.

She wondered to herself if it was just pure instinct that created the will to live, or if it was the fear of death that kept all those people just like her alive. Perhaps, she imagined, they lived on with some hope in their hearts for an end to the infestation, the plague; this war.

She did not know for certain what drove any of the people around her to stay alive and had indeed forgotten what motivated herself to live, she just simply did, and at some point, she adjusted to the new way of life without question.

She had done things she was not proud of, all to survive just one more day. She had hid in corners shaking and crying, she clung to a life that was no longer meant to be. She had killed to protect herself from what she feared, and she had murdered those who were simply unable to manage to survive.

She did not know what she had become, and she tried not to think about it. It had not even been nine months since the first reports started up, and it just those few short months, life as she knew it had completely ended.

She did not know what kind of life there would be after victory, but what she did know was that this little victory, whatever the cause, was the first blueish tinged ray of hope she and so many others had seen in an impossibly long amount of time. She needed it, and wanted more.

As the energy of the group continued on, she began to feel her own heart beat harder and faster, not out of fear, but from hope, excitement.

They were feelings that were perhaps more powerful than the fear that had welled in her heart for so long. They swept over her like a refreshing burst of peace and tranquility, like something so unexpected amongst the plague of death and destruction that it nearly felt like a dream.

She shut her eyes and allowed a faint smile to forge on her face, savoring the now sweet smell of the burning hive that wafted past her nostrils.

After a few minutes of absorbing the joy of the destruction of the hive, Cassandra was brought back into reality as the embedded cautions in the minds of the group presented themselves.

"We better get a move on back. It'll be dark soon." Lewis called out over the conversations of the others. "Don't want to be out in the open too long, even they do all seem gone."

With that, everyone seemed to be brought out of their glorious high, but each man and woman knew Lewis was right. Cassandra opened her eyes and sprung to her feet as the group prepared for their journey back to the wealthy hillside estate.

They had learned never to underestimate their enemy in the least. While they might seem absent from an area, the creatures had an uncanny ability to appear in mass force with almost no warning.

They were nearly equal tacticians as the most hardened and experienced battle experts, and much more deadly. It did absolutely no good at all to linger in the open for so long.

Cassandra imagined that it would only be a matter of time, minutes perhaps, before they were engaged in yet another battle with the vicious creatures that they might not live through. Death was always around the next corner.

They started off towards the distant mountainside, taking the easier but longer path around the destructed area in the center of the city.

Quietly, the group walked down partially shrapnel covered streets between mildly scorched buildings making a wide arc around the burned site.

As they wove through the streets, Cassandra glanced about from building to building scanning the glass-less windows instinctively awaiting movement from the nightmarish monsters that she was sure were silently lurking, planning their attack with whatever sinister intelligence they utilized.

Cassandra could easily remember a time in the not quite so distant past when this living nightmare began that she walked from make shift shelter to shelter fearful of the beasts that longed to drag her to their terrible hive.

She could remember the hairs on her arms and nape of her neck standing straight up from the goose bumps that ruffled her skin as she walked in fear through dangerous grounds in anticipation of an attack.

Now, oddly, Cassandra noticed her heart was beating in that same heavy, excited fashion and once again the hairs on her body stood at attention. She felt a chill crawl down her spine and her skin tingled with the sensation.

Though, the feelings were not being caused by fear of the creatures. She had almost become so used to walking through dangerous territories and battling the monstrous creatures that an attack at any given moment would be familiar, normal, and routine than the still air of a destroyed town and empty hive.

Her hair was standing on guard because of the eerie emptiness of the streets. Where once a massive hive had been erected, now only a charbroiled hole remained and not a breath of wind, nor a distant shriek from the bugs that once dominated the city was in the air. It was the still silence and quiet peace that it brought that Cassandra found to be uncomfortably and sinister.

She took a deep breath and continued on in stride with her group, close to Lewis.

She tried to remind herself that this was an accident and the bugs were probably more likely than not scared away from the area by the blast and would certainly be back.

She could sense the tension and awe and wonder from Lewis, Carlos, and the others as she glanced around. The explosion was something of a spectacle, and it was hard to remember that it was probably an isolated accident, and not a renewed war effort of some kind.

Not only were there no bugs to be found, there were also no signs of a human uprising either. Whatever had happened, happened, and was done.

Suddenly, something twisted, torturous and shiny black with a heavy acid smell caught her attention a few blocks away. She did not stop to consider if anyone else had seen it too.

The black bodies filled her eyes for a split second and she jumped into action so quickly it startled Lewis and a few others around her.

As the others wielded their weapons around to the same direction, Cassandra was already poised, aiming her rifle and ready to take a final stand against the hordes of creatures she saw. So used to being assaulted by large numbers of the beasts was she that it took a few second glances to allow her mind to register on what she was actually seeing.

Straight ahead about three not-so-charred blocks away, there was indeed a massive number of the terrible creatures, but astoundingly enough, they were all dead.

The group took several long, breathless looks at the massive graveyard site before one person moved forward. Blindly driven by curiosity and amazement, combined with just enough fear and apprehension to keep her on her toes, Cassandra inched her way closer to the slaughter field, putting several feet of distance between herself and her companions before any one of them joined her.

Slowly and cautiously, they all began to walk forward. Not trusting their own eyes or their stunned and confused senses, each member of the group carried their weapons ready to use and scanned the streets and buildings around them waiting for the creatures they eyed to jump up and move in on them as though it was all a ploy to lure the humans in with a false sense of security.

As Cassandra neared the cadavers, she began to notice the countless number of bodies stretched on for blocks, down every street. As she pulled to a halt at the very edge of the first acid burned hole in the street under the first of the bodies, she took a moment to evaluate the tattered corpse.

At first glance, from blocks away it looked as though the creatures simply dropped dead. Cassandra could hear others whispering similar thoughts, thinking that the creatures had just fallen over and died.

Perhaps the cause of death was the explosion or something resulting from it, some of the group had suspected. Perhaps the animals had hit the end of their natural life span or died off because of some bacteria or pathogen in the air that they could not tolerate.

But as they drew closer, the group could tell by the acid burns to the streets and buildings and the tattered remains strewn all over, that the animals had actually been slaughtered.

A new rush of excitement swept over the group as they stared in wonder at the nearly endless field of dead bugs.

"Who did this? And what did they do it with?" Someone whispered aloud from the stunned group.

It was the question silently on everyone's minds. Cassandra slipped forward inch by inch taking in more details of the carcasses and long silent battlefield that sprawled half a dozen blocks.

"I don't see…" Carlos whispered as examined one of the carcasses.

He and Lewis almost simultaneously finished the thought as Cassandra re-registered the scene to realize they were right.

"…any bullets."

"There's no shells."

Lewis knelt down just far enough away from one creature to keep a healthy distance and stared at it though a frowning face. Carlos quietly whispered to him as Cassandra listened in, keeping her eyes locked on the tattered corpse.

She ran her eyes over the dismantled body repeatedly, each time absorbing what she saw in a little more detail.

"Maybe they did just die?"

"These creatures did not just die," Carlos said with certainty.

"It looks like they were ripped apart." Someone else said through gaping jaws.

The creatures had definitely not simply grown old and keeled over, nor had it withered up from boredom or starvation. Something, something external, had torn through the thing's body and nearly shredded it.

The creature Lewis knelt next to had one arm missing and several of its thick spinous processes on its back were torn clean off. It had part of its narrow bony chest seared away.

Cassandra finally lifted her eyes and scanned some of the other bodies for similar damage. Indeed, nearly every creature she saw was in some way dismembered or otherwise blasted into pieces.

Bodyless tails, heads, arms and other pieces were strewn in the street, amongst over and under the tattered corpses like someone was throwing bug-confetti in all directions.

She felt the hairs on her neck stand up once more and a renewed chill run through her body. Cassandra realized that she was not standing at the edge of a massive graveyard; she was staring at a slaughter.

"What in the name of hell could do this to these creatures?" One person whispered with an astonished tone.

"No bullets." Someone else said softly. "How can there be no bullets?"

Lewis stood and stepped out further into the street, walking slowly and carefully between the torn cadavers to avoid the congealed clots of deadly acid. Cassandra followed along cautiously.

The street reeked of death, perhaps more so than any other place Cassandra could recall. Some of the smells in the air were familiar; the acid blood, the scent of death, while other smells were definitely absent.

Cassandra could not smell any gunpowder. There was no hint of residue from any weapon she was familiar with through the whole scene.

Her senses picked up others smells that she wasn't familiar with and could not quite define. Others noticed the lingering odors, too, and questioned them in hushed voices. There was a definite musk in the air unlike anything she could recognize.

"What caused this?" One person, who Cassandra didn't even notice had wandered off, questioned aloud.

Everyone turned and eyed a building across the street, diagonal from where the group was standing. She pointed out a burn mark clean through the side of a building, large enough to easily fit a human head through with room to spare, that offered a clear view of what appeared to be blast damage inside the opposite corner of the interior room.

"Some kind of grenade maybe?" Lewis questioned with a tone that definitely suggested he did not think he was correct.

"Do you see this?" One of the other group members called and again everyone turned to face him.

He was standing in the middle of the intersection of Lavelle Rd. and Arnold Street, according to the dangling street sign on the post above Cassandra's head. He stood and indicated all around him to the carcasses piled high in a splayed out manner from that one area.

"Someone… or something… was standing here," he gestured to the whole middle of the intersection.

He didn't need to finish his thought, because it was so clearly obvious now that he pointed it out. A massive pile of tattered corpses was strewn in a full circle at least ten meters from the spot where he stood.

It looked as though they had all rushed towards a single spot and were tossed back, shredded and mangled by whatever had fought them off.

Whoever had fought and killed the monsters must have indeed been victorious or they had been defeated and carried away to a new hive, for there were no bodies other than the bugs in sight at all.

Cassandra found herself fleetingly impressed with humanity for being capable after so long, to launch such an attack.

She did not even think there was a large enough group of people armed or daring enough to accomplish such a victory, but as she looked around it was obvious there was.

"They destroyed an entire hive, and killed hundreds of drones…" Lewis said quietly.

"In a night." Cassandra added as she looked around the battlefield.

"Who could do this?" One woman gasped.

"How could anyone fight them with no bullets and massacre them?"

"Whatever happened here, we need to find out."

The voices quickly turned into a murmur full of excitement, curiosity, and a healthy dose of fear. It was obvious the battle was long done, and whoever or whatever had killed the bug army and destroyed a hive was long gone.

The murmuring whispered turned to all out discussions and half the group was split between searching for the victors of the battle and heading back to get the rest of the group before they moved on.

Reinvigorated, the group found themselves circling around the battlefield, scanning over the dead drone bodies that littered every street, halfway running, in search of the fighters that they wished to join.

As the group marched quickly, they let their voiced rise and their guns lower, confident that humanity had taken a winning step against the alien creatures.

Exuberantly discussing the methods by which the group of freedom fighters had accomplished this victory, the members of the group unanimously raised their energy and excitement level as each person hoped to find whoever did this and join them in the winning battle.

Cassandra found herself smiling as she fantasized with the rest about a massive force of tanks and weaponry gnawing away at the drone numbers.

They let their thoughts rattle on aloud until finally, the group was discussing in detail a great celebration as they butchered the last of the bug Queens on the final battlefield and lit a huge bonfire to dance around and drink and dine like kings and queens as they reclaimed their planet for themselves.

The thought of having a night's rest where she did not have to worry about being startled into action in the middle of her sleep by an invading force of the deadly monsters sounded so fantastically unrealistic to Cassandra it didn't even seem like it could be possible, but she still allowed her mind to think on it anyway.

They turned a corner and their eyes were greeted by a welcome and newly familiar sight of yet more carcasses of defeated drone beasts. However, instead of marching joyously past that particular block of tattered serpent carcasses, Lewis brought the group to a halt to evaluate this particular battle field in closer detail.

Perhaps at first glance that block seemed in no way different than any of the others they had spent the last forty minutes striding through, but Cassandra let her eyes lower to the ground where Carlos and Lewis were pointing.

Frowning, she too stared in uncertainness at the twisted serpent corpse near their feet. The creature's shiny black hide was covered in a fluid that contrasted greatly with the rest of it.

A splattering of neon green fluid was dried on to the creatures' body shell. The bright green fluid, which looked almost like paint or antifreeze from a vehicle was splattered onto the creature and the sidewalk and roadway around it.

Perplexed, the group stared in hushed awe trying to understand what they were looking at. There was no vehicle nearby, certainly not one fresh enough to have lost its engine coolant in last night

"It can't be antifreeze, it's too thick." One man said with certainty.

"Is that paint?" Another asked.

"Oh, all this time, and who knew we just needed to fight them off with paint guns." Someone sassed.

Cassandra pressed her lips together in an amused smile. Bravely, Carlos dipped two of his fingers in a thick pile of the green stuff on the sidewalk.

Though nearly all dry, there was still a liquidy spot in the center.

Carlos retraced his fingers and closer evaluated the goop on them. He rubbed his fingers together and pulled them apart slowly, watching a sinuousy line of the fluid tract between his thumb and forefinger until he extended his fingertips so far that the thin green line snapped away, leaving a slightly oozing trail on his hand.

"This stuff isn't drying," Carlos said quietly but clearly to the group around him. "It's _clotting_."

"What?" Lewis asked with a slight laugh in his voice.

"You mean its blood?" Cassandra questioned.

"This is blood." Carlos said, confused but yet certain at the same time.

"It can't be. There's nothing on this planet that has neon blood." Someone responded dismissively.

"Well, I don't think these things _are_ from this planet." Lewis added.

"Yea, but their blood isn't that color, and that's not acidic." Cassandra pointed out.

"Well, it's not acidic anymore…" Lewis started. "So if it is blood from these things, how come we've never seen it before like this?"

"Well, maybe we just never noticed" someone in the group responded. "I mean, it's not like we spend lots of time hanging out in bug zones."

"There's a trail," Cassandra whispered, looking halfway down the block.

She could see another glowing spot of the bright green blood on the ground in the middle of the street, and again on another bug cadaver or two futher down the road, as though something that was bleeding, had stepped over the fallen bug bodies.

Slowly, she began to walk towards the spot, followed by the curious remainder of the group. She glanced around and saw seven more bugs, but nothing else.

A few feet beyond, she saw another spot of blood, which was quite bigger than the first two, and had a thick trail leading to the edge of the street and around the corner into an alleyway. Cautiously, Cassandra and the others followed the trail where they halted once more.

Each person dropped their eyes to the ground, gasping and cursing as they tried to comprehend what they were looking at. Cassandra stared quietly, unable to even blink. She let her eyes take in every detail but she still was not sure she understood what she was seeing.

Laying on the in the middle of the alley, not far from the sidewalk, was a creature unlike anything Cassandra could have ever imagined in her wildest dreams or nightmares.

The gigantic creature being even topped the bugs as far as astounding shock factor was concerned.

The creature was built like a large man, she estimated that the thing was probably seven feet tall but she could not guess its weight. It had two arms, two legs, a torso, a head on its neck between its shoulders, but there the similarities between it and a human being ended.

It was obvious now where the blood had come from. The dead creature on the ground at the groups' feet had a very large portion of its right thigh missing.

Its bare chest had claw marks dug into it and the being's face and head were torn apart. It was hard to tell what the creature's facial features were supposed to look like under the blood and damage to its skull, but Cassandra definitely noted protruding mandibles on the top and bottom of its mouth. Each mandible was crowned with a long, sharp tooth, like a tusk. The mandible on the lower left side of the things face was gone completely, along with most of the rest of its lower jaw.

The creature's jet black smooth hair look like dread locks. They were strewn out around the body and splashed with its green blood.

Cassandra noted the creatures' muscular build and long talons at the ends of its fingers and toes.

Even under the bloody blanket that covered the being, along with armor that sat upon its shoulders, waist, and lower legs and arms, it was easy to tell that the creature was ripe with muscles and a fit fighter, and obviously armed for a battle.

Cassandra also assumed that the thing was male, since it had no breasts on its exposed but slashed chest.

Whatever he was, he was a fighter. She was not sure if the thing had managed to kill all of those drones by himself before he fell on that bloody spot, but she thought him a hero anyway for trying.

"This things' not human," someone in the group said after a short while.

"Really? Hadn't noticed," another responded.

"What in the hell is it?" A concerned voice called out.

"I don't know," Lewis mumbled quietly.

"These things don't turn into _that_ do they?" Someone else questioned.

"No, they couldn't. They wouldn't have killed their own kind," Carlos suspected.

"No, he's different. He was killing _them_." Cassandra responded in an awe struck whisper.

"Well where in the hell did he come from?"

The group continued for some time discussing the creature that laid in his own blood at their feet. No one moved or even looked around to scan for approaching drones.

All attention was cast to the new creature, the alien, and what he was and what his purpose there was.

Carlos knelt next to it and gently prodded the cadaver with a piece of concrete shard, after several hissed warnings from the group about the potential acid blood. When it was obvious that the alien male's blood was not acidic, Carlos took a closer look at the creature while all eyes fell upon him.

"Well… uh… this," Carlos stammered as he looked over the alien, "this guy came for a fight."

"Do you think he killed _all_ of those things by himself?" Someone asked, exactly what Cassandra had been silently pondering.

"Who knows."

"There could be more of them. We should leave. It's getting late." Lewis added in finally.

Without even realizing it, the group had spent the entire day away from their shelter. Dusk was quickly approaching as the discussions raged on.

Cassandra sighed deeply and stepped back finally pulling her eyes from the bloody cadaver on the ground. She stalked slowly away to the back of the group and scanned the street around her.

She found herself casting a watchful eye up to the dusky spring sky, wondering to herself where the alien on the ground had come from and whether or not there were more of his kind to be found.

Her thoughts drifted but she suddenly became aware of a flash vaguely reflecting off the front of a building two blocks away. She frowned and watched the glass front of the building, awaiting the next flicker of reflection.

In a moment there was a flash of whitish blue reflection onto the building and was gone again. It looked as though someone was flashing a searchlight on and off and the angle of it allowed for part of the light to hit the building. Something was definitely moving, but she wasn't sure where exactly.

Curious and excited, without a word Cassandra started off towards the building that was catching the light. She heard Lewis call to her, but never slowed her steps.

Over and over the building lit up and as she drew nearer to it and became aware that she was being followed by the group, she scanned around the street looking for the source of the light.

Repeatedly the light flickered and reflected off the building. Cassandra turned her head when someone in the group gasped and cursed.

Her eyes cast past the people standing near her, and she scanned down the hill that they were standing at the peak of.

Between the trees and the buildings that lined the street down the hill, Cassandra saw the most incredible sight she had ever witnessed.

Hordes of the bugs were charging forth, attacking with endless fury against a small army of the alien fighters.

The blue lights flashed from the weapons the aliens seemed to have mounted to their armor at their shoulder. From the distance she was at, it was a little hard for Cassandra to see the battle in complete detail, but it was obvious that the dozen or so alien fighters were destroying the hordes with what looked like little effort at all.

Two by two or more, the black creatures fell as they tried to penetrate the line of warriors and failed.

The scene brought a wild wondered smile to Cassandra's face and she felt the group simultaneously gasp and hold their breath for a moment when the battle at the bottom of the hill filled their eyes.

"Holy God, what the hell are they?" A stunned Lewis questioned.

Cassandra felt herself answer before she could even hold it in. She did not who or what the aliens were, but it was obvious what they were they doing. She responded in an excited whispering voice.

"They're saving us."


	20. Chapter 19

**CHAPTER NINETEEN**

Without taking a moment to consider, the group began to move forward down the hill, towards the battle. As they crept closer, the sounds of the battle filled their ears.

They could hear the high pitched shrieks of the angry bugs as the creatures charged forth at their new foes. Over the sounds of their terrible voices, the group could hear deep loud howls that must have been coming from the alien fighters.

As Cassandra drew near and the images became clearer, she slowed her pace for a moment just to watch the massive clash at hand. Like ancient gladiators, the alien fighters forged through the flooding numbers of their enemies.

Some of the aliens, she noticed, wielded long shafted spears as their weapons, while others carried what looked like massive hand guns that fired bright blue pulses. Others yet fired the blue burst of light from the shoulder mounted weapons. An odd sound filled the air with each trigger pull.

The alien fighters whipped around like they were dancing a well choreographed routine as they sliced through their enemies with apparent ease, cutting and severing the deadly beasts with spears, blades, and some even fighting bare handed.

The bugs were clearly angered by the new enemies and struck at them with so much ferocity it almost felt as though an ancient hatred was displaying itself there on an Earthly battlefield.

Cassandra scanned from fighter to fighter, watching each one for a moment as they pushed into the attacking numbers of bugs.

It seemed as though the aliens could not have come better prepared for the attack. They knew exactly how to handle the creatures, that much was obvious Cassandra thought.

The warriors were perfectly able to leap and roll and jump and sprint through their enemy lines and for the most part, avoid getting injured at all.

She watched as one fighter took down two drones with each end of his spear, squat down and slice through another drone with a blade she did not even see him holding, spring up and avoid the acid wash from the creature, and impale yet two more with the spear in only a matter of seconds.

Each fighter, it seemed, was able to move and kill with as much efficiency. Cassandra quickly counted thirteen of the alien warriors, each armored a little different and wielding various weapons. But each of the aliens was concentrating on their enemy and slicing through them quickly and ferociously.

Some of the warriors were clad in body armor that was so minimal in its covering Cassandra could hardly see how it could be useful or protective.

She saw at least five of the warriors dressed in armor that exposed their chests and abdomens, thighs and upper arms, but covered their backs and lower legs along with their heads. She glanced to several more that were in armor that so completely covered their bodies they looked like some kind of medieval gothic alien knight.

Each of the warrior fighters, towering taller than any human Cassandra knew, looked ferocious, eerie, and deadly.

While each one of them fought with incredible prowess and was no doubt a well accomplished fighter, ready for the battle at hand, they all seemed to be following direction and cues from one commander, who was near the middle of the formation, at the very front.

He was easily recognizable from the others not only from his position, but also because he physically looked different than the rest.

His skin was paler in color, gray. He was obviously older than the others, Cassandra presumed immediately as she watched him stalk and slice his prey with a sort of cool headed ease.

Every one of the fighters wore a helmet, though the detailing on the helmets varied from individual to individual, the helmets were sleek and smooth. The deep black eye pieces gave the helmets an oddly hollow look and made their wearers seem that much more surreal and alien.

The individuals all had a different look to them and as Cassandra drew nearer yet, she could see the beads in their ropy hair catching the reflection of the fire blasts while their ropy hair strands swung about as the creatures danced and whirled around, killing their foes.

"Get back, Cassy!" Lewis warned as Cassandra pushed forth closer and closer to the battle to watch the scene unfold more clearly.

The bugs noticed the presence of the humans, though they did not seem as disturbed by them as they were by the alien fighters.

Only a few of the bug drones broke off their attack of the aliens and charged up the hill at the humans. As they opened fire, Cassandra glanced from alien to bug and back again.

She could not tell if the aliens had even noticed the presence of the humans, or even cared in the slightest that they had joined the raging battle.

The flood ensued for what seemed like an eternity. Cassandra did not even know where all of the bugs were coming from.

With their hive destroyed and so many already dead, she thought for sure there would an end to the swarm but she could not see it. She would fire her rifle dry and back behind Lewis and Carlos for cover as she reloaded and rejoined the fight.

Just as the last of the drones that had bothered to turn their attention to the group of humans had been killed, Cassandra glanced off down the street and saw that the aliens were still fighting a massive wave of the serpentine black creatures.

She turned her rifle to the swarm, ready to help the alien warriors in their cause, but before she could even pull the trigger, another large group of creatures flooded like angry bees from around a building just down the block.

Their numbers were so numerous she could not even see through their ranks. The street turned black with the approaching creatures as the humans spun about and opened fire, coming dangerously close to depleting their ammunition supplies.

Until now, they had always been ammunition wary. Conserving their weapons' ammo was at the top of their priority list for survival, it came even before finding food and water.

Now, charged up by the destruction of one hive and hundreds of drones, and the presence of the alien fighters, the humans seemed to lose their grasp of their plan for survival. They were no longer interested in fleeing for their lives. They stood their ground and fired their guns dry.

When a few of the people in their group had completely run out of all ammunition, they switched to hand held weapons. Wielding machetes or holding their empty weapons like bats, four of the group charged blindly forward and met with brutal death amongst the sea of drones, despite the pleading of the rest of the group for them to stop.

Tragically outnumbered, the group fell back as Lewis howled out over the remaining weapon fire. He seemed to be echoed by the alien warriors just a block away, only those fighters charged forward as the group of humans faded back.

Three of the aliens broke into a run and charged towards the new attacking swarm, leaving their companions to continue the war against the other flood.

Ignoring the humans completely, the three alien warriors pulled to a stop at the edge of the block. One of them, or maybe all three, Cassandra found it hard to distinguish under their emotionless masks and over the sounds of the continued gunfire, howled out a throaty growl and caught the attention of the attacking drones.

A few of the shiny black animals broke off from their formation and charged full speed straight at the three warriors. Instead of splaying off to the sides, or even standing their ground and readying their weapons, the three aliens dropped to one knee and held their spears at their sides.

Cassandra found herself trying to fall back away from the drone horde long enough to watch and see what these three warriors were up to.

They seemed completely uninterested in the presence of the humans and equally unconcerned about the charging drones. Suddenly, over and over again, blasts of bright blue and white flames shot out form the shoulder weapons and seared through the beasts that charged them.

Without missing, the three warriors were able to bring down close to half of the rest of the drones from their crouched position in the street.

Either their shoulder weapons had run dry or overheated, Cassandra was not sure, but as she continued to shoot at the drones that lunged forth, she noticed that the three warriors had now stood and were charging towards the horde that still attacked the humans, wielding their spears and howling under their masks.

The two forces clashed together like familiar old enemies as they struggled for victory in deadly battle.

The humans continued to wage war on the horde of drones from the front of the line, while the alien warriors attacked from the flank as the remaining larger group of alien fighters continued to take out the swarm that encroached on them from the other direction at the far end of the block.

Cassandra watched the numbers in her own group deplete. They were making progress in the horde of attacking drones, but as they were falling back, some were falling permanently.

The alien warriors, she noticed as she glanced down the street, seemed to be finishing with the last few of the horde that had attacked them as a few were already starting towards the group of bugs in front of her.

She warily eyed the other wave of bugs piling into the battle area from down the block that charged directly into the larger group of alien fighters. Her eyes widened and she went back to firing, becoming very aware of how light her reserve ammunition bag felt on her waist.

Slowly, the humans fell back as their ammo supply dwindled. Cassandra heard Lewis call to Carlos for more ammunition and Carlos threw him what he announced to be his last clip.

She looked around and noticed that many of the survivors of the group were beginning to run for shelter to hide, as their guns went dry and the attacking horde continued forth.

As the warrior aliens joined their force back into one to attack to bugs, the creatures seemed to become completely unconcerned about attacking the humans.

They turned their attack sideways and tried with all their force to break the line of the fighting aliens. The enraged beasts attacked the alien fighters with such hatred Cassandra thought even the pitch of their voices had changed to mimic their hatred.

She was certain that these two very different species were well acquainted with one another.

The warriors continued to carve through their enemies with incredible speed and prowess, which only seemed to further enrage the nightmarish creatures.

Cassandra quickly ran her rifle dry and bolted some distance away with Lewis and Carlos. They tucked themselves against the side of a building and Cassandra reloaded with her second to last clip before looking back at the scene just beyond her.

The alien fighters fired their blue shots at the creatures while simultaneously carving through them with the variety of weapons they held in their hands.

Her eyes followed the gray skinned commander of the aliens as he bolted across the street, pursued by four of the angry beasts. The warrior put just enough distance between himself and his would be killers before he spun around on his heels and sliced his bladed spear into the air.

She was stunned as the four creatures dropped to the ground just a moment after each other. The warrior had sliced perfectly through the necks of all four creatures in one well timed swipe and their acidic, headless bodies clattered to the ground.

Without taking a moment to even catch his breath he ran towards the attacking creatures one more time and drove his spear through one creature that was on all fours on the ground in front of him.

The bug numbers began to thin and the stunned humans began to creep slowly out of their hiding places, evaluating the scene and the still standing band of thirteen warrior aliens.

The fighters were beginning to pull themselves together once again after holding out for two major victories in the early evening hours. The sky was just turning black and the moon was beginning to shine down on the bloody scene when _her_ voice rang out on the breeze.

Cassandra froze and felt her heart skip several beats. The warriors in the street seemed to stop and stare off at one particular spot in the direction of the queen's enraged shriek.

Cassandra watched as the commander she had noticed before seemed to quickly indicate to the others where they should go and without any hesitation, the other warriors followed the first one's commands obediently.

Cassandra could feel the vibrations in the ground from the massive queen drawing near. She clenched her rifle tightly reminding herself that she only had one more clip of ammunition, Lewis was on his last one, and Carlos was out.

She could see some her fallen companions' weapons in the street near the battle.

One rifle lay at the feet of the first alien as he crouched down between two buildings and watched as the others prepared for the queen's arrival as instructed by their commander, who was further down the street.

She glanced to the other aliens and noticed that some of them were crawling up the sides of the buildings around them with just as much speed and agility as the bugs. She found herself wondering if the two species were related in some way. They were both equally as strong, equally as athletic, unquestionably deadly, and they seemed to intimately know one another.

Whether they were warring kin or enemies at the instinctual level, she did not know, but it did seem to her that the two different races were indeed well evolved to battle one another.

She was grateful that at least for now it seemed that the new alien arrivals were on the same side as the humans.

Her mind drifted for a moment, wondering where the aliens had come from and how this battle had started. A hundred questioned flooded into her mind but she squeezed her eyes and forced them all out as the queen let loose another fearsome shriek and made her appearance.

The massive enraged creature came barreling down a side street. Cassandra craned her neck around the corner of the building she pressed her back to so she could see better. She saw the queen running on two legs, like a massive tyrannosaurus.

The thing was hissing wildly into the air and she stomped along the ground, charging straight towards her fallen offspring. She slowed her pace as she neared the strewn piles of her drone children and she stretched her jaws and offered a satanic shriek to the awaiting warriors.

Cassandra thought that the queen seemed very certain that the warriors were there. Though as she looked to where she knew at least one was waiting, she could not see him.

She frowned, not sure if he had moved from his chosen spot or not. She looked again to be certain he was not there. She thought she saw a shimmer in the moonlight where he used to be, but she did not see the alien warrior.

She glanced back to the queen, who seemed to be aware that there was a threat nearby and consciously thought about her next move. The creature backed away, swishing her massive tail behind her as she swung her wide head side to side and hissed.

Cassandra crouched low and crept a little closer to the corner of the building to get an even better view of what was going on. Lewis whispered sharply to her through his gritted teeth for her to stop and get back, but she ignored him. Curious to know what would happen next, Cassandra poked her head around the corner of the building.

The queen howled wildly into the air and suddenly lunged at a building across the street and one block away from where Cassandra crouched.

She did not even see the warrior that was on the rooftop there, but somehow the queen knew he was there. She crouched low for a moment and stretched her neck and head almost straight as she shrieked once more and massive, sharp toothed jaws opened wide to release the second, inner set of razor sharp almost crystal looking teeth.

Her long, wisplike tail waved side to side and for a moment the creature swayed. Cassandra was not sure what the queen was thinking, but the thing shot off towards that building like a rocket and clenched her razor sharp rows of clearish white teeth around the warrior that crouched on the building roof.

At first glance the queen's mouth looked empty, but was filling with bright green blood. A spark of blue light flickered from between her teeth and suddenly the crushed, bloody corpse of one of the warriors appeared in her jaws.

Cassandra realized at that moment that the warriors were invisible. They had made themselves unable to be seen, but somehow some other sense had led the queen to one's location.

Suddenly the others sprung into action.

They opened fire on her and their bright blue flames that cast from their shoulder cannons slammed into the queen all at once. Even she was too powerful for the warrior's bladed weapons it seemed.

The fire bolts hit into the massive queen's abdomen and she was thrown backwards from the impact.

The tattered corpse in her teeth was cast with such a force from her mouth that it slammed into a building and skidded down the side with a dull thud, leaving a thick smear of bright green blood down the wall and on to the sidewalk.

The queen howled and leapt back up as the group of warriors fearlessly charged at her.

The warriors launched themselves at the massive queen just as she rose to her feet.

One of them, Cassandra could tell it was the aliens' commander, grabbed at the large protrusions on her back and he was lifted onto her like he was a cowboy trying to stay on the bull for a few seconds longer.

The queen shrieked and howled as she whipped around and used her tail like a scorpion's, stabbing at her own back to get the warrior off of her.

He raised his spear with one hand, while holding on to the spinous process with the other, and dug it deeply into her neck. One of the others slammed his spear into her leg, while Cassandra could see that three more dug their weapons straight into her abdomen where their blasts had gone, further injuring already open wounds.

The queen howled and reared up. She toppled over backwards and slammed to the ground, writhing, injured badly, but still very much alive.

The warrior that had been on her back leapt off just in time before she fell over on top of him and crushed him. He spun around and looked at the queen while the rest of his group moved in onto the downed beast.

She tried to pull herself upright while she whipped her tail angrily about, attempting to hit or impale the approaching warriors. They were able to avoid her tail which seemed to upset the queen even more.

She howled angrily and used all her might to pull herself upright. She almost made it halfway to her feet when the band of warriors that had encircled her cast off their spears and blades at the queen.

Each and every well aimed weapon that the warriors threw impaled the queen into her massive skull. She shrieked as the first one hit a little before the rest, and when the other blades slammed into her head she dropped back to the ground without another sound.

In the quiet air Cassandra could hear the acid from the queen's carcass burning in to the ground.

She jumped when a wild yell rang out into the air. Looking back down the street behind her she saw what was left of the group coming out of their hiding places, cheering and yelling, clapping and raising their hands into the air, praising the aliens for bringing down an entire hive and a queen in front of their eyes.

Cassandra, Lewis, and Carlos crept out from around the building and stood quietly in the street, staring in wide eyed disbelief at the alien creatures that stood around their kill and watched the humans appear in the street through their expressionless masks.

The aliens seemed completely uninterested in the group of cheering humans at all. They turned to the queen and retrieved their weapons and once reorganized, the commander of the group began to lead them away without any acknowledgment at all to the humans they had just saved.

One of the men from the group ran over to the alien commander as he turned his back and took a few steps away. The man called out to the alien, angrily requesting for the being to halt and explain themselves to him.

As soon as the curious and agitated human was within reach of the commander alien, he spun around and batted his forearm solidly into the man's chest, sending him crashing backwards several feet away, gasping for breath from the impact with the metal gauntlet that covered the creature's forearm.

Cassandra and the others jogged over to help the man to his feet, all looking warily at the group of alien warriors as they disappeared down a street and turned invisible once more.

She felt herself giving the newcomers a dirty look. They were obviously here to kill the bugs and destroy their hives; that much was for sure.

Though she could not understand what prompted the arrival of the newcomers, she found it utterly rude of them to treat the humans in their midst with such disregard. The least they could have done was show any concern at all to their presence.

The group quickly debated about the aliens, trying to cover topics from how they got there to what the next the step should be. Everyone agreed that it was apparent the aliens had no regard for the humans at all, and it angered the group slightly to have seen the alien newcomers parade down the street as though they owned the planet.

"Just what we need, another rung lower on the food chain." Someone muttered as the group of humans regrouped and tried to figure out what was next.

"I think we should follow them." Cassandra suggested quickly.

"Are you crazy?" One man protested.

"We should see where they go." She said in a quiet, calm whisper and eyed Lewis determinedly.

"We don't know what they are, Cassy." Lewis started to protest softly.

"Exactly why we should follow after them and see."

"You're nuts, kid," one person in the group snapped at Cassandra. "Didn't you see what they just did to Jacob?" He indicated the man who had been hit, still gasping for air while Carlos tried to help him.

"But they didn't kill him." Cassandra said shaking her head slowly.

She turned back to Lewis. "If they can do _that_ to those," she pointed to the destruction all around them. "They could have certainly killed him."

There was a brief moment of silence while Lewis and the rest of the group seemed to ponder what to do next.

Curiosity took control.

Before the creatures had too much time to wander so far that the humans would be searching for them all night long, the group jumped to their feet and sprinted down the street.

After a few blocks they slowed their pace and scanned the streets around them for any sign of the alien warriors. They warily looked through the homes, yards, and trees of the residential area they had strutted in to, quietly whispering to each other as they searched for signs of alien life.

"This is so stupid," one whispered. "Out here in the open with almost no ammo now."

"Maybe we won't find the aliens," another said shakily.

"We have to find them," Cassandra said determinedly.

She saw Lewis cast her a silent glance.

The group walked for close to an hour. If the aliens were anywhere nearby at all, they were not going to make themselves known to the humans searching for them.

Likewise, if there were any drones in the vicinity, they too were not giving off tell tale signs of their presence. Finally, dismayed, the group decided to call off the search until dawn.

It would be slightly safer to search for the alien fighters under the morning sun. They marched up the front stairs of a long ago abandoned house, slammed the front door open and the group filed inside for some rest.

They spent a long, sleepless night muttering to themselves inside the dark home. Each person was too on edge over all the events that had taken place in the last forty eight hours.

A myriad of emotions filled the rooms of the house throughout the night as the group anxiously discussed the alien warriors. Many expressed instant animosity towards the alien arrivals, chastising them for their lack any respect for the humans they had encountered.

Those who delved into hating the alien race had by morning, already composed a complete outline of the creatures' behavior and reasons for being on Earth.

Since no one knew the real reason why, it was easy to draw a negative outlook on the mandibled, dread locked, armored warriors and label them a new found threat to humanity.

Others were just beginning to allow to it to sink in to their minds that there really was life beyond Earth, though they too established their own interpretation of the aliens' intentions.

Cassandra sat with Lewis and Carlos on the living room sofa the whole night. She silently fiddled with the last clip of ammo she possessed for her rifle, listening half heartedly to Lewis and Carlos's debates over the alien creatures.

Many of the people in the room were concentrating solely on the aliens themselves, from describing their opinions of the aliens' appearances to who or what they were, why they had come, and where they had come from.

Others debated on the behavior of the aliens, while more were completely focused on the weaponry they possessed and how they might garner a few their own alien rifles.

Cassandra agreed with some the suppositions, but not with others' thoughts and she too, by dawn's light, had drawn her own conclusions about the alien creatures, which she did not offer into the pot.

She was certain beyond any doubt at all that the two races had a history together. The warriors appeared to know too well what to expect and had obviously come too well prepared to fight the hordes of the deadly bugs for just chance.

They had come so completely prepared with weaponry and armor and skill to eliminate the drones and explosives to destroy entire hives that in less than forty eight hours, hundreds, perhaps even thousands of dismembered drone carcasses and one queen littered the streets of the city, there was no other conclusion to come to. The alien warriors obviously knew exactly what they were doing.

For some reason that she could not completely describe, she was highly irritated by the initial attitude of the alien fighters towards the human survivors.

After struggling for so long against immeasurable odds simply to survive on the planet that humans had lost all command over, Cassandra decided the aliens did not have the right to barge into the war and strut around like they owned the place and cast humans aside like they were a nuisance.

She was not sure what she thought the aliens should behave like, but as the image of the commander slamming down the man who was trying to catch his attention filled her mind, she felt a flash of anger well up inside her.

She shut her eyes and shook her head, trying hard to rid herself of the thoughts that flooded through her mind and the confusing questions that came with them.

The sun was beginning to peek through the drawn curtains on the window and the group, feeling slightly less aroused over the arrival of the aliens, readied themselves to head back out into the streets and search once more for the mysterious warriors.

They crept out onto the porch and scanned the streets with their eyes and barely filled weapons.

The spring time sun was poking up through the early morning clouds creating a pinkish orange haze against the budding leaves on nearby trees.

Fluffy clouds filled the sky and as long as one looked up towards the sky, there was peace and normalcy in the air and all was as it should be.

However, when Cassandra cast her eyes back to the street, nothing was normal. The emptiness around her had gone on so long that it was almost beginning to feel normal, or at least routine, but it never felt right. Every street was filled with empty, dark homes.

The streets of the neighborhood they walked through were quiet and clear and clean, which only made it look and feel all that much more uncomfortable and out of place. Cars were still parked in the driveways, homes were untouched, there was no trash or debris strewn around the streets, and there was no sign of death or destruction.

The odd musky smell filled the air again and Cassandra tried again to identify it. It was pungent, but not repulsive, though the scent did make the air feel heavy as she breathed in while she walked.

After walking for a good portion of the day, the group stopped to rest briefly in a small field. They walked out of one city, into another, and straight through until they came to rural countryside on the far side of the second city and they had not seen a thing in their journey.

Cassandra was beginning to wonder if the search was hopeless. Somehow, she imagined that if the aliens did not want to be found, they would not be found, and from their displays early last evening, it seemed clear that the beings wanted little to do with humans at all.

They began to think that if they found drones, or a hive, they might find the alien warriors, but the next city over was empty of any sort of life at all, including bug hives.

So they rested in a small open field and quietly discussed what to do next. They tried to calculate where the alien pack that they were hunting might be. Lewis thought aloud for a moment.

"Assuming they walked non-stop since last night...with as much ground as they could cover..."

"They could be forty miles away for all we know," someone cut him off.

Lewis glanced up and corrected the man. "More than that."

"And they could be in any direction," another added.

"Maybe they got into a space ship or something? Maybe they're gone"

"Maybe they killed all of them everywhere." Someone hoped wistfully.

"Could this war be over? Just like that?" Someone else added in hopefully.

"We should just concentrate on trying to find ammo and supplies and get into some shelter until we figure this out." Another said quickly.

"To hell with that," someone else argued throatily. "Those big bastards have weapons the likes of which I've never seen before and we've all seen what they do to those bugs. We should find the aliens, follow the weapons. That's how we'll win this war."

"No man, that's how _they'll_ win this war," the other hollered back shakily. "I for one just want to hide out until it's done."

"Ah," the raspy man grunted and waved his hands at the reluctant man.

"Do you think they'll just give you their guns?" Cassandra asked sharply.

Lewis glanced at her, slightly smiling at her point.

"Maybe if I say 'please' they will," the man shot back at her.

Cassandra rolled her eyes, doubting highly that no matter how nicely they might be asked, the alien warriors were not going to part with their weaponry to arm the humans.

"Alright," Lewis called out in a flat tone. "We'll try one more time, we'll head north, if we don't find anything by nightfall, we'll seek supplies and shelter. But we _do_ have to try to find ammo soon, or we'll be arming ourselves with sticks and stones."

Nodding silently in agreement with Lewis, the group pulled to their feet and in a few moments, they were headed north. It all seemed so odd to Cassandra.

She had spent months trying to avoid drone or hive encounters, and now she was part of a group actually searching for a hive.

With little ammunition for their weapons, driven on by some undefinable curiosity created by the alien warriors, the group of people marched forth actually hoping to find the bug drones in their resin hives, and with them, the alien warriors.

Four more hours passed. Her feet were getting weary from walking and Cassandra was certain they would not find their destination at all.

Truly, the aliens could have gone anywhere and the drones could be everywhere. She began to feel that they were all in great danger and suddenly, as if to confirm that thought, Cassandra felt the little hairs on her neck stand up. She stopped and glanced around.

Perhaps it was only the gentle, cool breeze that brushed her face delicately that was making her skin tingle, she could not be sure. She looked around the small town, down the empty streets, between the dark buildings, and something familiar caught her eye.

She noticed out of the corner of her eye, a glimmer, a ripple in the air that she was sure was moving. Her eyes widened and a slight victorious smile formed on her face. Without a word she turned and started down the street away from the group. Lewis called sharply to her and darted after her. He grabbed her arm and pulled her to a stop.

"What are you doing?" He whispered angrily to her.

"I see them. Up ahead. _They're_ here."

Lewis glanced to where she was pointing and contemplated the street for a moment. He swayed his head and squinted his eyes but saw nothing.

He looked back to her with an uncertain gaze, but she released herself from his grip and they started down the street, followed quickly by the rest of the group.

Suddenly a loud booming sound echoed through the empty streets followed immediately by the resounding shrieks of alien drones and loud howls of the alien warriors.

Indeed a battle had just begun not more than ten blocks away. Cassandra picked up her pace with the rest of the group as they ran towards the sounds of the battle. They slammed to a halt just at the edge of the small town and took in the sight, frozen in awe and wonder and unable to move.

The lone street that led out of the downtown area of the small suburb and winded its way between large fields on either side of the road was barricaded off by a line of tanks and military vehicles that had at some point tried to defend their lands against the enemy invaders.

Just beyond the vehicles, a sea of drone bugs, Cassandra thought perhaps five hundred, maybe more, charged forth and surrounded the group of alien warriors in the middle of the road.

The well-armed fighters howled at their enemy, urging them on. The drones charged straight to their deaths, truly proving they had no sense of self preservation.

The small army of alien warriors, at least thirty strong, shot and sliced through them easily. The drones simply clamored over their fallen kin without a care, using sheer numbers and acid blood and deadly claws and teeth and tails as their defense, which the alien fighters seemed to circumvent easily.

They stood their ground, holding out a rectangular shape in the middle of the street, brutally slaying the drones that drew too close and shooting the bright blue fiery bolts out of their shoulder weapons and from a few hand held casters of the same sort.

The white and blue blasts moved with such force through the air that they left a ripple in their path behind them. Every shot seemed to automatically know exactly where to go and Cassandra was certain that not one blast missed its target. Some of the shots even powered through two or three of the drones at a time.

Feeling utterly useless with such limited ammunition for their weapons, the group of people simply gaped in amazement at the battle and stayed at a distance.

They did all they could do which was solely to watch the battle in wonder. The warriors in the street became so surrounded by their angry enemies that Cassandra and the others could not even see them at one point.

It seemed like the drones were trying to climb on top of one another to get to the alien fighters, and they seemed utterly enraged by their failing attempts.

Slowly, the warriors managed to cut through the horde until there were less than half remaining. The bodies piling up in the street forced the fighters to back off and find new ground to stand on just so they could get a clear shot at their enemies.

They began to file further down the street and the horde followed accordingly, shrieking and hissing as they continued their charge.

Lewis dropped to his knees and crawled cautiously towards the line of tanks and humvees when the drone horde was enough of a distance away that he was sure he could get to the vehicles safely.

Cassandra whispered as loud as she could to Lewis but he ignored her and continued forward. She quickly followed after him as she realized that he was going to search the vehicles for weapons and ammunition.

When the rest of the group caught on to what was going on, they too trotted up to the line of tanks. They did not find much, but they did come out with a few extra clips of ammunition for their weapons.

Cassandra glanced up and noticed the battle in the street was beginning to come to an end. She did not know how long the battle had been going on, but thought that it was only about twenty minutes or so from the start of the fight before the road and fields had become a massive graveyard and the warriors at the far side were slicing through their last wave of enemies.

She filed around the line of vehicles and stood at the near side of the battle field, watching the group of warriors cut through the very last of the drones, before she even realized they had been watching the battle for nearly an hour.

She could see some glowing blood dripping from a few of the warriors, but the injuries did not seem serious from what she could tell, or at least it appeared as though none of the warrior collapsed or seemed to be writhing in pain.

She eyed the commander of the group who was in the lead position of the formation. He pulled his spear out of the drone at his feet and flicked the acid off the tip of the sharp metal blade.

Cassandra whispered to herself as she noticed that their weapons were resistant to the acid blood of the drones. Until then, she had not seen anything that could stop the acid burn. She glanced to another warrior and noticed that he had a burned spot on his arm, but the armor above the wound was not damaged.

The warriors pulled to an eerie halt as they appeared to look around as though they were scanning the countryside for more threats. She thought they did look a little breathless while the last of them retracted his weapon from his kill.

They stood and glanced over their kills for a moment as they caught their breath, resting in the most defensive way possible, still holding their weapons ready for use.

Cassandra stepped sideways cautiously, navigating to the far end of the acid burned field as the group behind her began to catch up.

She kept her eyes warily on the leader of the warrior group, trying to imagine what his expression was under the mask he wore. He looked far across the field of his victory and raised his chin at the humans he saw circling the battle field.

A savage howl echoed out from under his mask and the others in the group growled and yelled loudly in response. Cassandra and the others stopped for a moment and eyed the aliens, not sure if the aggressive vocalizations they made were some sort of victory cheer or warning to stay away, or both.

They watched the warriors watch them for a moment before the aliens their backs once more and stalked off quickly, disappearing into the crisp morning air as they turned invisible once again.

Determined not to let the group of aliens out of sight, Cassandra and the others picked up their pace and bolted down the street after the disappearing creatures. They ran after the warriors for several miles before they stopped once more, breathless, and having lost the invisible creatures once more.

Cassandra paced the street with her hands on her hips as she fought for breath, silently cursing to herself, frustrated that they kept on losing the group of aliens, but a flicker of light in the distance caught her attention.

At first she thought it was lightening flashing across the sky, for it was the same color and created the same flashing effect. She waited for a moment and stared at the spot where she thought the light came from.

When she saw multiple flashes from the ground sparking and lighting up the far distance, beyond the vast stretch of unharvested crop fields and just down a rolling hillside, Cassandra chirped out to the resting group and headed off through the fields, quickly pursued by Lewis and the others.

They reached the bottom of the valley and followed a path of woods that served as separation between two massive wheat fields. Cassandra eyed the flashes of light through the trees and sped towards them like a beacon in the dusk.

The group bolted through the trees, foolishly forgetting about the possible drones that could be in the area. They charged on pure adrenaline towards the next battle, staying silent and focusing all their energy on bolting as quickly as they could through the trees.

The flat fields had turned into another downward slope, and far below the stunned group, the alien warriors were at work again.

As the sun was setting and the sky turned to a deep red hue, the shadows cast into the valley below the hill made it hard to see exactly what was going on from such a distance.

"My God," Lewis gasped as he realized what he was looking at through the scope of his rifle.

"What is it?" Cassandra asked impatiently.

Lewis handed her the weapon and she lowered her eye to the scope and watched as each flicker of burning blue light illuminated the scene for a few seconds.

In between bursts of light, Cassandra wondered for a moment how the aliens could see what they were doing, but she quickly decided that they were probably more than capable of seeing in the dark. Through the flashes from their weapons, and between trees, Cassandra could see that the aliens were not killing drones.

There seemed to be no drones in the area. The aliens were destroying eggs. They had found a massive egg field.

Cassandra squinted her eyes and scanned through the trees worriedly. Where there were eggs, she knew, there was an egg layer. A queen was not a matter to be taken lightly.

Short of lobbing grenades and hoping for the best, Cassandra had not known a human that had successfully killed a queen, but she had already seen the never ending warriors take down one queen.

She scanned the trees looking for the queen that she knew would arrive. To the left in the valley below, there were only open fields. In the other directions the woods sprawled on, up a hill and out of sight.

She watched carefully, trying to see the queen before the warriors did in case they did not know she would be coming. Cassandra shook her head to herself and grunted. She wanted to see the warriors win, but she knew there was nothing she could do if a queen was coming to catch the aliens unaware.

When the massive beast did finally appear, the warriors were anything but surprised. They attacked her with such force it seemed like the group had planned every step of the onslaught.

The warriors carved through the drones that flooded into the scene with the queen, and they fought viciously as the night set in. The queen commanded her drones into the attack.

With her as their guide, they did not just simply charge forth into the tips of the spears that the warriors held, nor did they jump into the air to greet the blasts of blue flame that would sear through them.

The drones leapt to the sides, took to the trees, and attacked from every angle, completely surrounding the large group of warriors.

Cassandra watched with the others and felt her heart begin to beat faster with every passing second. Through the continued flashes of light she could see that the warriors were trying to kill the drones, avoid the queen, attack the queen, avoid the drones, and stay alive in the process.

The group watched with anticipation and their adrenaline charged through their veins. It did not take very much longer before they decided they needed to join the fight once again.

They bolted through the trees, running down the incline, trying to see in the falling darkness as best they could. Their course led them well around the edge of the trees, away from the battle.

By the time the group was able to get to the lower land and turn back towards the fight, there was little left for them to help with. They charged in to the scene and opened fire on the first drone they saw. Cassandra scanned through the trees and saw that the aliens had their attention turned to the queen herself.

The fighters took to the trees themselves, cloaking their bodies and disappearing into the darkness. The queen hissed and shrieked in a high pitched and angered voice as she scanned through the woods for the alien warriors.

Cassandra quickly joined the others in firing at the remaining drones that had now turned their attention to the human arrivals. Enraged, the queen charged at the band of human shooters.

The scene turned chaotic in a moment. People scattered in every which way to try to avoid the queen as she took down trees in her charge.

Opening fire on her, the group quickly emptied their weapons in a futile attempt at killing the massive beast while half a dozen warriors, seemingly unappreciative of the unnecessary efforts of the human fighters charged in towards her for the final kill.

The queen seemed undeterred by the meaningless attempt to end her life and she hissed loudly into the air as she spun back around to face her far more deadly attackers.

Cassandra fumbled with her ammo sack and pulled out a clip, quickly trying to reload her empty weapon. She glanced over to the two people crouched just a few feet away from her, who were both trying to fill their weapons and seemed to be paying no attention to their surroundings.

Before Cassandra could even breathe deep enough to yell out, the queen sliced her tail through the trees sharply as she turned her back to the human group, cutting through bark with a loud crash, and her tail landed firmly on top of the two crouched people.

The spikes on her tail slammed through the two bodies and drove so deep into the ground she pulled three times before she managed to get her own tail unstuck.

Cassandra howled and jumped back as Lewis called loudly to her. She turned her weapon on the queen and slammed the clip into the handle of her weapon.

Just as she was about to pull the trigger, a decloaking alien warrior leapt out of a tree and landed a penetrating spear blow firmly in the queen's head.

Thrown off by the attack, the queen spun around and howled loudly and within seconds she was under so much fire from the aliens in the trees all around her, she dropped to the ground.

Scattering and regrouping, the group of rattled humans sprinted as far away from the battle as they could before stopping to watch the warriors at work. It appeared that they did not need the help of the humans after all and as they stalked out of the woods leaving the dead queen in their midst, they offered no sort of acknowledgment to the group of people that watched them go.

"Jesus," Carlos whispered, "do these things ever stop?

"They're taking them out hive by hive." Someone responded in amazement.

"What the hell are they some kind of extraterrestrial exterminators?" Another person piped up.

Cassandra chuckled. The words sounded so funny, but truly that was what the aliens seemed like for the moment.

They had made it abundantly clear they had no interest in the humans, nor did they appear to need any back up from them. They simply killed the bugs and moved on without any consideration to the natives.

She formed a little smile on her face as she started through the trees with the group trailing after the alien warriors that had once again turned their backs on the humans that followed them.

"Are you all right?" Lewis asked Cassandra softly.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she responded smiling.

"Look, just don't... take off like that again anymore, O.K.?"

Cassandra nodded to Lewis, grateful for the concern.

She felt a little silly for having to have been told not to run off, but she could not help indulge her curiosity.

She felt an excitement she had not experienced in months. She wanted to understand what the aliens were, and why they had come. The arrival of the aliens had sparked something in her, something she had not been privy to in quite some time, _hope_.


	21. Chapter 20

**CHAPTER TWENTY**

The alien warriors walked away from the battle and cloaked. Cassandra and the others saw their backs for only a moment before the creatures turned invisible in the darkness of the early night.

So, drawing an imaginary line in the direction that the aliens had stalked off, the group walked on, slowly pursuing the unusual, deadly visitors.

The groups' energy had died down as fatigue took over. They walked slowly and warily, with much less enthusiasm than they had before.

Exhaustion was setting in since they had not truly rested in many long hours. Cassandra wondered if the aliens were getting fatigued at all, as they seemed to have been killing non-stop since they were first noticed three days ago.

She struggled to keep her eyes open as she trudged through the woods and came out into a clearing and walked more.

They took to a street and strode down a hill, past a large lake that caught the moonlight in its ripples. The area was silent, not even a cricket was chirping. There was simply no sound, no breeze, no sense of any other life than the humans that walked wearily down the hilly street.

Cassandra glanced from time to time into the night sky. Through the clouds she could see a few stars and the moon shining brightly down on them. She found herself idly wondering which star the aliens had come from.

Her curiosity kept her mind running and for a while she was able to forget about her heavy eyelids and tired feet.

Not sure where the aliens had headed, the group did their best to try to follow their imaginary line and hoped that the creatures had not deterred from that path. They marched up an exit ramp and took to a highway three miles outside of the small town.

She looked at the signs above her head and noted the miles listed to the next town and the next large city after that. She sighed a little as she thought about how far the group had walked over the winter months; how far they had gone simply to survive.

She felt like a nomad, carrying with her only what she needed to survive, weapons being the utmost important followed by water and food. She remembered a time when they started to try to head south towards the warmer climate of places like Texas and New Mexico, in fear of freezing to death in the winter with no good way to keep warm.

However, because the weather had made traveling difficult enough and combined with the ever-present threat of the bug drones that never gave up regardless of temperatures, the group never made it as far as they hoped.

Now, as a cool springtime rain began to drizzle then pour down on the group, Cassandra barely even noticed how cold and shivering she was. Her several layers of clothing provided her adequate protection and her calf high leather boots were impervious to water, so her feet stayed dry and warm.

The rain poured down harder and harder and thunder began to roll across the sky, accompanied by occasional bolts of lightning as the hours ticked on and the group continued their search of the aliens well into the middle of the night.

None of the group seemed in the least concerned with the weather. They had much more on their minds at that moment than just getting a little wet. Adapting to the elements was difficult, though.

They had seen their share of weather related fatalities but not so many compared to the death and destruction the drones brought with them.

The group learned to survive using their wits more than their weapons, and Cassandra was proud that they had come so far against such adversities. She now wondered what tomorrow might bring, in the path of the mysterious alien warriors.

She walked on silently, forcing her weary legs to keep pace with the group around her. Lewis stayed quiet, only occasionally glancing to her and to Carlos, but mostly he kept his eyes straight ahead and seemed lost in thought much of the walk.

Carlos, too, seemed lost in his own mind. His eyes were fixed on the road in front of him as though he too was wondering where the next minutes might take them.

Cassandra found herself delving into her own thoughts once more about where their path might lead. She knew what she hoped it would lead to, but she wondered where it actually went.

Was this the path that led to the end of the war? Perhaps this road led to the end of their lives.

There was a time where Cassandra really could have cared less if the road she was on did lead to the end of her life.

There had been many narrow escapes and desperate moments over the last few months that made her question how it was that she was even still alive.

Sometimes she was not grateful to be alive, for it seemed so pointless. Nothing in her life that she had hoped to achieve would be a reality for her, so it was easy to lose her way amongst the hives and question what reasons there were to live.

She spent many long nights and days, holding out in dark buildings, away from the sun and the outside world, contemplating what kind of a life she was living for, and what end she truly thought would come from all of this.

The idea of living through such horrors only to die in the midst of a meaningless battle against an enemy that would eventually completely cover the face of the planet and annihilate all life from its surface seemed so insignificant to her. It seemed utterly meaningless.

There were many times where she was certain that no good end would come off all of this, that there was no escape other than death, and that all one could live for was to hope to die without becoming a host.

She had seen what happens to animals and humans impregnated by the face huggers. She had been there while Carlos tried with all his might to save those that had been impregnated, but in the end, each one met a gruesome death and she was forced to accept that the only salvation she could give those that had been impregnated was to kill them; to kill the hosts and their hellish offspring.

It was not an easy thing to do, to look in the eye of a person that was only trying to survive and pull the trigger, knowing there could be no other course of action taken, and knowing that allowing one more of the nightmarish monsters to be spawned would be an ultimate sin against humanity.

There were times when the group would come across living animals that had been infected. At times like that pulling the trigger was not as difficult to do as butchering the beasts that they had shot to eat some fresh food, cooked over small campfires inside whatever building they were hiding out in.

The first time Cassandra sliced the skin off the animal she shot and carved the meat off of his carcass, she felt nauseous and was nearly unwilling to eat the meat.

Never having eaten anything that did come out of saran wrap at the grocery store or served to her on a well decorated platter, the first time her hand got bloody from chopping raw flesh and muscle off the bones of a freshly killed animal, she cried.

The second time it was not so wretched of an event, for it had been many weeks since she ate a decent meal, and she was hungry.

Now, it had been so long since she had even seen a living creature, she questioned whether there was even any animal life left on the planet, or if she'd ever have the chance to eat their meat again.

At least seeing the alien warriors tearing through drones, queens, and hives with little loss gave Cassandra a renewed sense of hope for a good ending to the nightmare they were all living.

The alien fighters seemed to her like the perfect match against the drones. Although she, along with the others, could not possibly imagine why they were there, she was sure that with their efforts, humanity would rise once more.

She let her mind drift to the warriors again, and the gray skinned warrior commander that she had eyed before filled her mind.

She admired the warriors immediately. They stood strong against massive waves of drones that the military couldn't defeat even with tanks.

But yet the warriors had only lost two of their ranks during their destruction of hives and their queens, drones, and egg fields that she had seen so far, and they did it by hand, on foot, and with armor that left much of their bodies exposed.

They fought ferociously against the drone armies and like brutal conquerors, left rotting battlefields in their wakes. The air stunk like acid and thick musk where the warriors walked and Cassandra was sure she was catching that heavy smell on the wind once more as she strode down the roadway with her group.

Suddenly a booming noise echoed through the skies above their heads like the loudest clap of angry thunder Cassandra had ever heard in her life. The group halted abruptly and dropped defensively to the ground.

For a moment Cassandra thought that the sky was falling. The gray clouds in the night air turned a blazing bright orange for a flicker of a second and a loud whirring noise filled her ears. She covered her ears and looked up, partially fearful of what she might see, but her eyes registered on the site and she felt her jaw drop.

A massive ship glided over their heads probably only a mile or so up in the sky. It zoomed by the group on the highway so quickly Cassandra felt the breeze from the engines blow through her long hair.

A bright light shone down from somewhere on the belly of the ship and scanned the ground like a giant searchlight. The light seemed to focus on an area not more than a couple miles ahead.

The giant star ship, at least as wide as a football field was shaped like a jagged edged football. It's sleek, curving outer shell dropped off in the back and formed a straight line down to the engines that sat on the sides of the vessel just up from its belly.

Cassandra noticed some sort of extending arm dropping out from the front and rear of the belly of the vessel. The ship swerved off towards where the spot light had focused and as the stunned group watched from the highway, the ship sank closer and closer to the ground until it disappeared behind the trees.

"They're landing," Cassandra gasped quickly.

"They're bringing reinforcements," Lewis said in agreement.

"Uh, that's a bad thing, right?" Another in the group asked uncertainly.

"Yeah, it means even they know they're fucked." Someone else retorted.

"Let's go!" Lewis prompted the group and they quickly sprinted down the highway.

The landing site was a little further than Cassandra had at first suspected. She watched the mile markers tick by ever so slowly and she felt like it was taking an eternity to reach their destination.

Disregarding her tired feet and weary eyelids, she put on another burst of speed as her adrenaline charged up through her veins. In a moment another flash of light in the sky caught the group's attention and they halted once more to watch.

This burst between the clouds was much further away, but the group could clearly see another alien ship coming out of the sky. This vessel, though shaped similarly as the first one, was much smaller. It sped across the sky towards the first vessel's landing site, gliding to a halt before descending straight down.

"Look," a woman in the group called out.

Cassandra turned with the rest towards the woman and followed her finger as it swayed in the air from point to point to point. More vessels, both large and small, were breaking through the cloud cover, each one splaying off in different directions, until they flew out of site.

"Is this an invasion?" The woman asked worriedly.

"That's already happened." A man responded.

"We were infested, not invaded." Another corrected.

"What the hell's the difference?" He protested back. "They're all aliens."

Cassandra glanced at the man, wondering if they were indeed invaded the first time around. She watched as several more ships broke through the night sky. One more smaller vessel sailed over to the same place as the first two and descended towards the ground.

"They're having a freakin' landing party," someone in the group stated.

"Let's keep moving. Let's see what's going on," Lewis said flatly.

Cassandra caught up to him and as they walked quickly on course down the highway weaving through some of the vehicles that were abandoned forever in the roadways.

"Lewis, what are you thinking?" Cassandra asked of him.

"I just want to know what's happening."

"Why do you think they're here?" She questioned.

"I don't know, Cassy. Do you really think they're coming here to save us?"

She looked him square in the eye as she powered her walk down the dirty roadway.

"Yes, I do."

Lewis shook his head and a frustrated smile crossed his lips. He obviously did not agree with her, but he fell silent and discussed it no more with her as he walked.

Cassandra thought to herself as she headed towards the landing site. _Why else would they be here_?

She wondered how it was they even knew that there was such a problem happening on the planet's surface, so she assumed they must have been watching somehow.

Lewis seemed angered by arrival after arrival of each new ship, and Cassandra knew from their previous conversations that he fell into the group of people that instantly hated the aliens for their sudden arrival and disregarding behavior towards the humans of Earth.

Cassandra still hoped that the alien warriors were there to help the humans, she could not think of another reason for their presence. They had obviously not intended harm towards the humans, even when they had ample opportunity to do so.

Perhaps the initial group they had been following after had called for help and these were the reinforcements arriving full force. In any case she could feel her excitement growing.

If just a handful of the strange alien warriors were capable of such destruction in just a few days, she could barely imagine what an entire army of their kind could do. Perhaps there was an end in sight after all, and perhaps it was one that would not result in the total annihilation of all mankind.

Finally, the group reached the landing site. They crouched low against the concrete guardrail over a bridge that looked down into a wide valley of open crop fields beyond a river and the images they saw were so amazingly provocative, Cassandra could feel the energy from the group shift from shock to awe to confusion, intermixed with fear and even anger.

Eight vessels had landed in the fields of the valley below the bridge. Two were very large and the rest were smaller. The larger vessels were carefully positioned far enough away from the center of the fields, while the smaller ships, obviously being more maneuverable were piled close to one another in a semi circular fashion.

In the center of the landing area stood a small army of the armored alien warriors.

Cassandra could see their metallic body armor and oddly decorated beads in their ropy hair reflecting in the lights cast off from the space ships around them. Cassandra thought there were at least two hundred if not more of the giant aliens.

Each one was heavily armed and ready for battle. The weapons they carried or had mounted to their armor varied from large hand held machine gun looking weapons to spears and bladed weapons on short and long handles.

Combined with their size, their armor, and adding their choice of weapons to the picture, the creatures looked simply barbaric and brutal. They looked like an unstoppable exterminating force that had obviously been well versed in their enemy.

There were large groups of aliens standing in rows in front of their ships as they walked off, and pacing in a small circle in front of all the new arrivals was a small group of what Cassandra could only have imagined where their commanders.

She stretched her neck and strained to see a little closer to try to take in more detail as she scanned the commanding group that awaited the new ranks to finish filing in to the open field from the ships.

"Let's get closer," Cassandra whispered, fearless and curious.

Lewis cast her a wide disbelieving look and considered her for a moment before he nodded and started to lead to the group down the highway towards a spot where they could climb over the guardrail and descend to the lower ground.

Cassandra marched so quickly along, she soon out passed Lewis, hurrying towards her destination. The group picked up their pace as they strutted down a hill not far from the landing zone. They bolted across a grassy field along a street until they began to approach the far edge of the crop fields where the landing party was organizing.

The group huddled in the trees, keeping their distance from the massive alien army, but each still trying to get the best view point they could without getting too close.

Cassandra, Lewis, and Carlos ducked into a small cove of trees just at the edge of the field. While Lewis and Carlos saw what they could from their crouched positions, Cassandra stood tall and craned her neck and chin high, trying to see all that she could, despite words of warning from Lewis.

She glanced to the trees around her to see if she could climb into one to get a better view yet, but the scrawny trunks offered no way to climb them. She stared at the formation between two of the smaller landed vessels, and when a loud undefinable voice rang out over the noisy crowd and the alien warriors fell silent and stood square, Cassandra was able to get a better view.

She was certain the small group in the middle of all the ranks were various leaders. Amongst them she suddenly saw the commander of the group that she had been tailing.

She watched him glare over his ranks, holding his mask under his arm. His mandibles ticked together but he did not appear to be saying anything, rather simply evaluating the troops around him. As he paced out of sight, Cassandra saw another of the group of eight leaders in the middle pace through the opening between the ships.

She watched another of the alien warriors descend from a ramp. The group of commanders, Cassandra noticed, seemed to clear out of the way and give the other one plenty of space. She was certain, even from this distance, that the armored warrior she spied now was female.

The being's slick hair was equally as long as some of the male fighters and her facial features were no more feminine than the rest of the troops, but Cassandra was certain that she saw breasts under the chest armor of this figure.

She looked taller than her male counterparts, but equally aggressive in appearance and clearly well-armed. The female leader paced the group in a circular fashion until she was out sight. All in all, the commanders organized their armies into one.

A total of fifteen leaders seemed to converge in the center, each heading up their own groups, out of them, six were female.

Cassandra watched each warrior pace by her viewpoint through the ships and noted the differences in each one's armor, weaponry, and over all features.

Each of the leaders, though armored for battle, had an ornate and almost ceremonial look to them and Cassandra noticed that the female she was certain was speaking, or at least making some sort of incomprehensible vocalizations that the rest of the ranks seemed to comprehend, was wearing a finely adorned cape that draped over her wide, muscular shoulders and flowed richly behind her as she circled in front of the troops.

"What do you think they're doing?" Cassandra whispered.

"Getting ready for war," Lewis said quickly and certainly.

"I hope to hell they don't decide to fight us too," Carlos added.

"No, they're here to kill the drones," Cassandra thought aloud.

"You don't know that, Cassy," Lewis warned.

"They would have killed us already," she said glancing from Lewis back to the alien warriors and noticing the familiar gray-skinned male commander once more.

She eyed him for a moment and frowned, uncertain where his eyes were focusing on, but they did not seem to be looking at the readying warriors around him. His head was turned in her direction, but his deep set eyes were well hidden in the shadows between the lights.

She felt her skin ripple as she questioned silently whether he had spotted his watchers in the trees beyond the landing field and found herself wondering if the entire group was totally aware that they had human spectators scattered around the field watching them.

"They've…They've had plenty of opportunity." She finished her thought after a brief pause, while keeping her eyes locked on the gray-haired commander.

Lewis did not seem content with her opinion and grunted something under his breath, but she did not pay attention. The caped female continued her throaty noises and rallied the troops.

She raised her staff into the air, tipped her chin up and spread her four outer mandibles straight out towards the stars and howled a deadly call into the air. Quickly the others resounded the sound, howling into the night, making their presence known to all that could hear them.

There was a heavy scent in the air, like anticipation riding on the wind, falling down on the alien party with the rain from the sky. The musk in the breeze made the cool spring night feel like a humid southern summer and the anxiety and eagerness in the group of alien warriors was so ripe it was tangible.

Cassandra felt her own energy rising up. She had forgotten about how tired she was from lack of sleep and almost constant migrating. She had forgotten how hungry she was, she had lost all care about the limited ammunition supply that she carried with her. She was ready to join them; the aliens; the resistance fighters.

The creatures howled on one long breath until the last of their voices faded off and they pulled their spears and rifles back to their sides, and their hair that whipped around their shoulders as they cried settled back flat against their armored bodies, the jewels and bands in their locks clicking slightly against each other as they settled.

Without another sound the aliens broke off into many smaller parties.

Cassandra watched as groups of ten, fifteen, twenty, shuffled off in different directions.

She saw many more female warriors, ready to fight, pulling back into their obviously assigned groups.

Though none of the aliens made any noise as they departed in different directions, they seemed to know exactly where to go and what to do and within a minute's time, the first of the groups was trotting off, camouflaging themselves into invisibility as they darted off into the darkness.

Cassandra watched some of the other groups file into their own different areas as their commanders readied them for battle. She saw a few more individuals, less well armored, disappear back into the vessels around the fields.

The remaining groups of aliens began to move well clear of the vessels, some spreading out deep into the fields while others turned their camouflage on and disappeared. The loud whirs of the vessels' engines filled the area, growing louder as the turbines that drove the vessels powered up.

Cassandra's eyes set on a group of aliens that were pulling back away from the readying to depart ships and were drawing dangerously near to where she, Lewis, and Carlos huddled in the small cove of trees.

She saw the backs of two aliens as they stepped backward and stopped barely fifty feet from where she and the others crouched.

Commanding this familiar looking group was the gray skinned leader. She felt the hairs on her neck stand on end once more and thought she could sense somehow, that the alien knew she and the others were there, in that cove of trees, hidden in the fields, circled around the army landing site, watching in awe.

It was much more than coincidence she thought, that he took his group to that particular spot to organize them. He turned his head towards the small cove of trees as he locked his sleek helmet onto his head.

"Oh shit," Lewis whispered quickly as he and Carlos sank closer to the ground and drew back a little further.

Cassandra did not move, but she felt Lewis' hand tug on her jacket cuff. He hissed a wary warning to her to drop out of sight, but she remained where she stood and stretched against the spindly tree next to her shoulder.

The leader turned to his troops in a moment, though now they all seemed to be glancing towards the trees. Cassandra knew they knew they were there.

She swallowed as she stared at the alien commander as he readied his bladed staff and stood squarely in front of his group. Some more of the odd noises ran out from under his helmet.

Cassandra quickly decided that the strange throaty sounds must have been the aliens' language, for the commander's group seemed to be quite keen in hearing the strange sounds.

After the wave of alien noises ended, the commander's troops growled and called to one another, obviously revved up and ready for the battle. Cassandra found herself ignoring Lewis' continued harshly whispered calls as she slid her foot forward, steadily eyeing the group's leader curiously.

The few trees offered her little cover as she crept a few feet closer to get a better looked. Neither the alien leader nor his group seemed to pay her any mind.

She was not significant enough to attract their attention, she supposed. Although she knew they had seen her and her party in the trees, she could easily tell they were completely uninterested in any of them.

The vessels around the landing site began to take to the air one after another. Their engines whirred and some of the smaller ships blew off a fiery blast as they shot into the air with incredible speed.

The larger ships pulled straight off the ground until they were both well clear of the trees and they turned their noses towards the cloudy night sky and zoomed off into the rain. Cassandra turned her eyes away from the group of aliens near her long enough to watch in wonder the mysterious ships head off into the sky.

She saw their lights growing ever smaller as they quickly accelerated into the clouds, but she was certain she could still see the vessels hovering far above the planet's surface.

Her eyes gently rolled across the night sky and she absorbed the sights that her limited vision would allow for her to absorb. She could see no less than a dozen tiny lights hovering all across the dark sky, floating idly amongst the clouds.

She pressed her eyebrows together and watched the distant vessel lights glow in the sky. She had no doubt that the vessels were going to hold where they were so they could return to the ground at some point to gather their troops.

It was a wise choice, she decided, and it confirmed her suspicions that the aliens had an intimate knowledge of the bugs that they battled with.

Even the alien warriors knew that if they left their vessels on the ground, it would open them up to infestation by the bugs.

She found herself also wondering if the aliens were keeping their ships off the ground to keep out human stowaways as well and suspected that had something to do with the reason for their orbit. That too, she decided, was a wise choice.

Her mind flickered to thoughts of stowing aboard an alien craft, escaping the infested, dying world she called home, and flying through the stars. A delicate smile formed on her lips, but quickly faded away as thoughts of an all out war amongst humans for the alien's technology filtered into her mind.

She could see the possibility, and she was soon wondering what kind of turmoil the aliens' arrival had sparked in the surviving colonies of humans that she suspected were scattered throughout the country and world. Surely the aliens had arrived in mass force and deployed troops throughout all the lands.

Another smile crossed her lips as she imagined the aliens' victory cheer rising up through a rainy night sky, having destroyed every hive, every bug, every queen, everywhere.

As the rain tapped against her face and a deep rumble of thunder rolled over head, Cassandra was brought out of the stars and she turned her eyes back towards the alien group. They were beginning to depart.

The commander stood at the side of the formation, overlooking his troops through the depth less black eyepieces of his helmet.

As the group followed their orders and began to stride off, the alien leader cocked his head slightly towards Cassandra and very obviously gestured with a pointing finger to direct her away. She and the leader exchanged eye contact for a split second and he grumbled some kind of throaty sound, and whipped his beaded gray hair behind him as he spun sharply on his heels and took to the front of the group.

Once again, the aliens faded into darkness as their bodies turned invisible and they walked away.

"Cassandra!" Lewis whispered sharply once the aliens were well out of sight. "Cassandra!"

He grabbed her arm abrasively as he moved in on her, glancing in the direction of the path of the aliens. She tore her eyes away from the invisible trail of the alien warriors and stared through a frown at Lewis.

"What do you think you're doing?" He questioned grittily. "You're going to get yourself killed."

She smiled at him and gently shook her head. "No, no. I won't."

Lewis clenched his jaws and audibly grinded his teeth.

Carlos stared at Cassandra in wide eyed wonder, either in fear for her bravery, or in awe of her stupidity, she was not sure. She was certain now more than ever that the aliens were not going to harm her or any other human, and she was not sure why Lewis and Carlos could not see that.

She tried to convince them both, through a whispered voice, that the aliens were not the enemy. She was certain that they had come to save them, although she could not begin to imagine exactly why.

As the trio walked through the crushed down crop field and regrouped with the rest of the amazed human survivors, Lewis turned a closed ear to Cassandra's enthusiastic acceptance of the aliens.

She noticed through her own excited words that many of the others in the group were also contending with their own mixed feelings on what they had witnessed. No one had any question that the alien army was there to eliminate the bugs, but they could not agree, or imagine, on why and how they came to be.

Many feared that the aliens were a threat to mankind, while few shared in Cassandra's thoughts that the aliens were no danger to humanity and deserved the right to a benefit of a doubt.

The group soon debated argumentatively amongst each other as to what to do next. They looked to Lewis for support and suggestion. He remained contemplatively quiet, clearly deep in thought and seemed to be raging his own mixed emotion war inside his head.

Cassandra stood fast to suggest that the group follow the aliens that they had tracked to that spot. She pointed towards the path that the creatures went, and tried to convince the group that they would be safer following in the aliens' path than holding out on their own.

Several members of the group cast her off like a silly young girl that had no idea what she was talking about. Cassandra felt her heart beat stronger with every passing minute and soon her excitement got the better of her. She turned and stalked away from the group.

Carlos jabbed Lewis in the arm, and his eyes lifted off the toes of his beaten down brown boots. He spied Cassandra leaving, following in the footsteps of the alien group.

Slightly rolling his eyes, he darted after her and pulled her to a quick halt. The group fell silent as they watched Lewis and Cassandra quietly exchange words. Lewis walked away from her and Cassandra held her spot, watching with an angry flare in her eyes. He walked over to Carlos and quietly whispered his intentions to him.

"We're going to follow the aliens."

"What?" Someone nearby overheard and questioned aggressively. "There's a god damned alien army out there, and a war on the horizon, and you're going to march off into it?"

"I think she's right. If we follow with them, we stand a chance." Lewis said with certainty.

"We've been standing a chance," another argued quickly. "Without _them_."

Lewis nodded and licked his lips.

He glanced back to wide eyed and waiting Cassandra and she eagerly turned her head in the aliens' wake as though she was trying not lose sight of the already long gone, invisible aliens.

He could feel his heart racing as he ran through any of a hundred scenarios in his mind. Each time, he too, ended up at the same conclusion. He turned back to the group with a certain authoritative tone in his voice that had not been used in quite a long time.

"We stand a chance to _win_ , not just survive. We get our world back."

"What if they want it for themselves?" The first man questioned with a confused and angry look on his face.

Carlos stepped forward, "Then they would have killed us all already."

Cassandra waited impatiently while the group discussed their options, from the very second they were living, to the unforeseeable end, and all that had been leading up to that point. It was a heated, but brief discussion and the group eventually saw through Lewis's eyes, who was looking on some level, through Cassandra's.

They may not have all believed in why they were following the alien warriors, and they might not all have been following for the same reasons, but they all turned as a group, some with great fear and uncertainty, others with a sense of hope and wonder, and followed in the path of the warrior visitors.

Cassandra paced quickly along the route, Lewis keeping to her side, but saying nothing. They sped through the rainy night air, forgetting once more about their own exhaustion as they powered along, trying to trace the route of the alien group that they trailed.

The thunder continued on and grew ever louder and as the hours drew on. The soaking wet and desperately tired group felt as though they were walking mindlessly, chasing something that they were not sure was not a dream after all.

They had left the crop field and strode through a rural street, following it clear through one small town and past another large farming area until they had come to the edge of a city. There was a familiar stench in the air, one that they had learned to avoid, but now were pressing closer to.

As they drew closer to a hive area, they could smell the heavy odor of rotted flesh in the air. The scent sent a shiver of fear and repulsion through Cassandra's body.

She sighed deeply and wrinkled her nostrils as she inhaled a large amount of rotted air. Through the dark streets, between the rain drops, she could see the silhouettes reflecting in the lightening strikes of a city that had been turned into a hive.

The group halted just within eyesight of the city's building some distance away, too exhausted to continue, and too wary of the hive to dare to enter.

Cassandra watched the still, dark buildings ahead for a moment. She scanned the buildings, waiting anxiously to see a flicker of blue white light from the alien warrior's weapons, but the only flashing she saw was from the lightning in the clouds above her.

The group was pulling away into a large gas station convenience store. Cassandra turned away from the small cityscape and looked at Lewis.

He stared at her but said nothing as she tried to read his eyes. He looked angry, confused, exhausted, and soaked. Without a word, they joined the rest of the group inside the store. With a roof over her head and no rain pouring down on her, Cassandra soon relaxed just enough to allow for the wave of exhaustion that had been tailing her to finally overtake her.

She was aroused from her deep sleep in the morning by Lewis gently tapping on her shoulder. She felt like she had just fallen asleep, but she slowly opened her eyes.

She eventually rose to her feet and joined the group that was readying to start their journey into the city. With a deep sigh, Cassandra stepped out into the musky air and eyed the city.

The scent of death lingered in the air and she warily eyed the cityscape. A massive plume of black smoke rose up from somewhere inside the city limits and a smile ran across Cassandra's lips.

She could feel the group's excitement increase as they talked amongst themselves while readily heading towards the destructed city. It was clear to the group that the alien visitors had completed their task. As they drew closer to the perimeter of the city, the smell of acid and smoke and the heat from the destructed hive filled the air.

The scents were so thick they were almost tangible as Cassandra walked right through the musky film she could feel in the hazy air. The group fell quiet as they started through the city streets, scanning the buildings around them warily, holding their weapons ready to be used if needed.

There was not as much damage here as they had seen before. There was no massive blast site, no leveled buildings or piles of rubble burning against the cloudy morning sky.

As Cassandra and the group walked through the streets, they came across many streets impassibly blocked by too many shredded carcasses of the bug drones to count. The heavy stench of the acid blood from the monstrous creatures lingered in the air and burned Cassandra's throat as she walked and silently scanned the buildings around her.

There was only stillness in the air. It was obvious that they had slept through the night's battle, out of sheer exhaustion and had missed any activity.

By the time the morning had rolled around and the group made their way into the city, there was nothing alive left. The alien hunters had stormed through the bug hive and eradicated the infernal creatures from existence in one night.

Determined more than ever and even more eager to continue following after the aliens, the group soon departed the city. They had taken some time to examine the destruction more fully, but they did not pass into certain areas that were far too damaged from the acidic carcasses.

They talked wildly amongst themselves as they left the city, trying their best to determine where the aliens might have headed last. They tracked out of the city on the eastern side and walked along a cluttered roadway, passing abandoned, rusted vehicles.

Cassandra looked across the road and across a large lake on the northern side. Its water was smooth and peaceful, dark and still, like the lake had been topped with a massive piece of tinted glass.

The trees around the water were budding small blossoms amongst their newly greened leaves and the area seemed at ease with the world around it and oblivious to the threats that walked the land. All along the other side of the road trees and shrubbery were growing and signs of new life were springing up everywhere, defiantly rising out of the ground, reaching for a sun.

The budding greenery contrasted so very much with the world around it, but Cassandra soon found herself over swept by its optimistic power.

Her thoughts traced back to the aliens she had hoped to track down and she was silently hoping for an end to the war. She thought back to when life was different for her and the rest of the world. She remembered a time when a quick end to an unusual parasitic infestation was all that people hoped for.

She felt stupid for the terrible underestimation that she and all of humanity had given the terrible creatures. Now, though, there was more than hope in the air, there was a true, real chance for victory, not just survival.

Cassandra could feel it in the air, the rest of the group could sense it and even the trees and little growing stalks of flowers seemed to know that victory was at hand, and a return to life as it used to be might be on the horizon.

They walked for miles and soon found themselves hot on the trail of the alien pack. They walked into another city and almost immediately heard howls and shrieks not from the bugs that they were so familiar with hearing.

The bellowing noises were from the alien hunters, and they were close. Cassandra and Lewis quickly led the group towards the sounds of the battle. They jogged down several blocks and darted around a corner, anticipation rising in the air as quickly as their hearts were beating.

Cassandra instantly raised her weapon and readied to fire as she turned the corner. Most of the pack of alien warriors were sprawled out in different spots along the street, snarling and screaming as they spun their bladed weapons into the air and crashed them down onto the monstrous creatures that attacked them.

Upset by the arrival of the group of humans, the battle was thrown into full blast as a new swarm of bugs barreled on to the scene from down an adjacent street.

Within seconds of their arrival, the group was opening fire on a swarm that just kept coming. Tearing towards them in an angry line as wide as the street, the black creatures hissed and squealed as they collided with the gunfire line in front of them.

Cassandra turned towards the battle amongst the aliens and noticed a new swarm heading them off in the other direction. The warriors saw the creatures too, and several of them instantly jumped around.

The two in the front of the line that were carrying hand held versions of the blue and white fire caster opened fire repeatedly. The sound of the weapon echoed through the streets along with the dying shrieks of the bugs and the wild howls of the masked warriors.

Looking back to the street just in front of her, Cassandra saw the swarm continue to grow. The creatures clattered to the ground amidst the weapon fire, but their numbers yet again assured them that they would get through the firing line.

As the enraged beasts scaled over their fallen kin, the group was forced to pull back to put some distance between the nightmarish creatures and their acid blood spray.

One of the alien warriors turned from the group fighting in the street and quickly headed towards the group of humans pushing back into their ground.

The alien howled loudly from under his mask and raised his handheld rifle weapon and opened fire.

The first blue streak of burning hot flame streaked past Cassandra's face so closely she could feel the heat from the blast. The oval shaped fire bolt slammed into a charging bug close to the group.

The creature exploded in an instant and those around it jumped back for safety from the acid spray. Over and over the alien warrior fired its weapon at the charging onslaught of drone bugs.

The group maintained fire as best they could and soon the end of the swarm was in sight. Cassandra turned back towards the remainder of the alien group.

She saw one at the other end of the street dripping with his own blood, but he still stood and sliced through the creatures that swarmed at him.

The commander of the group was just beyond the injured warrior, wielding his own double bladed weapon, slicing through the raging flood around him, and adding to the growing pile of carcasses encircling him at his feet.

She turned her head back to her group and took a deep breath. The last of the bugs was falling to the ground and the human group was soon lowering their weapons, looking about at one another and the alien amongst them in shock.

The alien did not seem to care in the least that he was in the middle of a human group. He was simply so caught up in the fighting that he immediately turned, scanned for his next target and moved out of the group, firing at any drones that had made it beyond the line of warriors at the far end of the street.

As he moved in on his next intended victim, Cassandra and the rest of the group started forward silently, providing backup for the aliens.

They watched in wonder as the group of oversized alien fighters cut through the remaining creatures with ease.

Soon, the silent street was filled with glistening tattered bodies, thirty two awe struck humans, and twelve unconcerned aliens.

For an odd but brief moment no one moved, each simply stared at the other species' troops until the alien commander called out a series of raspy noises from the far end of the street and his group turned and stalked away.

The aliens did not cloak their bodies this time, and as the group of humans easily followed in their wake, Cassandra wondered if that was as close as it gets to an invitation to join the aliens.

Each group kept their distance from one another. The aliens led the way and kept a two to three block lead on the humans that followed but they did not increase their pace to such a point that the humans would lose sight of them, nor did they cloak their bodies to disappear completely.

They simply walked the streets at a steady rhythm, scanning the buildings as they went. Cassandra eyed the bleeding alien as he strode along with his group. His thigh was dripping blood with every step and every so often she spied him clutching the torn skin on his abdomen with one hand as he walked.

The gray clouds in the sky never lifted and as the groups walked and dusk began to approach, a light rain once more drizzled down on the marching troops.

Just before the end of the city, the group of alien warriors stopped. Down the street, three blocks behind the warriors, Lewis pulled his group to halt and they watched the aliens with uncertainty and anticipation.

The aliens veered off the street and walked between two buildings, disappearing from sight. Exchanging glances at one another, Lewis led the group silently forward, trying not to lose sight of the aliens they tracked, and nervous that another battle was at hand.

They jogged down the blocks and slowed as they approached the building's corner where the fighters had taken off behind. Cassandra swallowed and listened intently, but heard nothing.

She raised her weapon and double checked that she had a fresh clip in its shaft before stepping forward just behind Lewis. They rounded the turn and scanned the area. As the group filed around the corner, each lowered their weapons and looked about. The warriors were not far ahead, stopped.

Cassandra descended several wide cement stairs and walked into a large, round area that rested between four buildings.

Three hotels and a massive convention hall were connected together by a huge concrete circular path, centered with a large decorative fountain. The warriors were gathered in the center of the circle, sitting, resting, tending to their wounds. Lewis and Cassandra exchanged looks and the group suddenly felt at ease.

"Well, that's good enough for me." Carlos whispered.

Cassandra smiled and glanced at him.

Not interested in spending the night outside in the rain, the group entered into one of the hotels and made themselves at home for the evening in the lobby of the building after searching room after room for anything useful they could take with them and making certain that there were no bugs hidden anywhere too close by, and most of all, trying to seek out anything that might be edible.

Cassandra and Lewis finished their patrol of a few of the upper floors of the building just as darkness covered the sky. They returned to the lobby and joined the others.

"Couldn't find any food, but we got some dry clothes anyway," Carlos said to them as they walked across the main floor.

There was a large pile of clothing at the edge of a hallway into the main lobby and several people in the group were searching through it for anything that might fit them.

Cassandra took off two layers of shirts and searched the pile until she found something dry that she could wear. Thunder started to lash out in the night sky outside once again and Cassandra walked to the glass lobby doors. She stared across the large area towards the large, once beautiful fountain that crowned the cement courtyard.

Through the flashing bolts of lightning that lit the area, Cassandra could see the warrior fighters gathered together.

Most sat and rested while three stood around them, keeping a watchful eye on the area around the group. The commander was on guard with two others, allowing most of his troops to rest.

Cassandra could see that the injured one no longer had glowing green blood dripping from his wounds. He was seated on the edge of the fountain and seemed to be tending his wounds.

Cassandra glanced up to the cloudy night sky, but through the rain drops, she could not see any hint of the ships that had been hovering against the clouds throughout the day. Seeming to not mind in the least getting wet by the drizzle that continued non-stop, the warriors sat so still, Cassandra was certain a few were sleeping while their companions kept guard.

She too rested and when morning came the group hustled to follow the warriors that had already left the area just as the sun started to back light the clouds in the gray spring sky.

As the group walked on and caught up with the warriors, they followed quietly and determinedly. The warriors seemed not to mind their distant followers, paying them no attention as they walked, scanning the areas around them for signs of the prey they stalked.

The warriors led their followers through bug infested lands that they never would have otherwise ventured in to.

The warrior race and their human shadows spent days stalking the nests of the monstrous bugs, methodically eliminating the creatures one hive at a time.

The two groups tracked through cities and towns, up mountainsides and down into the valleys below. The group of humans followed the aliens, keeping their wary distance. The warriors paid them no mind, and the group was well convinced that the aliens intended them no harm.

It was obvious and clear to all that the sole purpose the creatures had was to exterminate the bugs. Cassandra often wondered why the aliens were there, doing what they were doing, and saving the human race. \

She would watch the humanoid creatures curiously during quiet moments of the days and nights while no one was looking, hoping that she would find the answers somewhere in the deep black eyes of the helmets the creatures wore, and almost never removed.

Casandra tried, any time the groups came to rest, to slip silently away from her human companions and encroach on the alien warriors. She tiptoed closer and closer each and every time; either being ignored or unnoticed, she did not know exactly.

The warriors seemed to have no particular destination in mind, but they did move with a purpose. Cassandra was not sure at all what sense they had that allowed them to seek out hive after hive, but the aliens always seemed to be able to turn in just the correct direction to head to another bug infested area.

During battles, the two species would sometimes stand amongst one another, working as one, but once the battle was done, the two races parted ways and tracked only with each's own group.

Over time it became clear to the humans that the aliens they trailed had far more stamina than they could muster. The aliens would migrate, fight, and travel again, for days at a time until they reached another hive. The human group did their best to keep pace, to not lose sight of the aliens, and to fight amongst them when they needed to.

When the warriors needed rest, all rested, but when the warriors moved on, the humans had to choose to either follow or be left behind. They were marching constantly through bug infested territories they strived to avoid for months.

As one week turned into two, and two became three, it seemed the warriors were growing familiar with the group that tracked them.

It took time, but when the group of weary humans could not walk anymore and stopped to rest, the warriors never went too far.

Cassandra did not know what prompted the aliens to stay fairly close to the humans when they decided it was time to rest, but she was glad for their decision to do so.

There were times that a stray bug or a roaming horde that probably lost its hive and its queen, would charge for the resting group and it was good to have the aliens near enough to be alerted to a problem.

This did not happen often, but it did happen. Although the humans were capable of defending themselves, each one realized that the aliens were better.

They were so much more adapted to killing the drones than the humans who merely wanted to survive. The alien's body armor protected their skin well enough from the burning acid blood of their prey, while the weapons they carried with them were capable of slicing through one or three or more at once.

Though they did get injured and since their arrival, this particular group had lost two of it members, they were far more resilient to injury and drone attacks than the humans were.

The aliens did not watch over the humans directly, nor were they really even close to them most of them. They left the group to their own devices, making it clear they wanted little to do with the natives, but they were still protecting them in a way, Cassandra decided.

The aliens almost completely ignored the humans at all times, and the humans kept their distance and never intervened with the aliens.

The walls were up; the boundaries were clear, but as opportunity allowed, Cassandra continually pushed the limits, and tried the patience of the gray hair leader.


	22. Chapter 21

**CHAPTER TWENTY ONE**

After three weeks, the relationship forged between the two groups was set almost set in stone. There was an unspoken, undiscussed but totally understood set of rules the each particular species seemed to know to follow on an instinctual level.

At times, Cassandra found it almost amusing. The warriors were so unsociable towards the humans that times immediately following a battle, where the two races might have crossed into each other's sides of the battlefields, they seemed rigid and awkward as they consciously tried not to acknowledge the group of humans too much.

Likewise, the way the people in her group scattered out of the way when a warrior walked towards them made the unusual situation look almost more like an odd sort of dance.

She wasn't sure if the human group that insisted on tailing the pack of alien hunters was viewed as an annoyance or a curiosity, but Cassandra could not help to believe that this was the way the rocky relationship needed to be.

It seemed that the two species were not destined for any great level of common friendship or alliance, however, the aliens didn't seem to mind or be bothered by the humans so long as the humans never got too close, and after every fight, every battle, every time the humans camped and survived, the hunters always returned to within visual range of the human group.

The warriors were not really exactly on the humans' side, they just were not their enemy at any particular moment either. She had no doubt in her mind that given the urge, any one of the massive warriors, would quickly and easily kill a human, but at least for the last few weeks, the aliens had made their displeasure known with sharp growls and the occasional shove.

There was a fragile balance between the two groups and sometimes, the barrier between them was so thick Cassandra was certain she could see it in the air.

The aliens offered no concern for the safety of the humans as they entered straight into active bug hives. It was the group's continued decision to follow the aliens anyway.

The warriors had never discussed risks and safety regulations with the humans that tailed them. Entering a hive had gone from complete suicide of the worst imaginable sort and something desperately avoided at all costs, to almost a routine event.

Many people in the group began to notice the finely knit inter-workings in the warrior group. Each member of the group had their own particular job to be done inside each hive and their system seemed to work quite finely as the warriors fine-tuned their assaults each and every time, becoming more efficient bug killers.

The alien warriors were able to kill hundreds of bugs, even thousands, destroying whole hives and queens and eggs with apparent ease in part because of their incredible array of weaponry and skills using them, but also, Lewis once commented, because of the flawless chain of command that the group followed.

Their leader was their leader and there was no question about it. Though the watching humans could never understand a hint of the strange language that the group's commander would speak, he seemed to always order his group in the most beneficial way.

The leader's troops seemed to always follow his order and there were no arguments amongst the ranks once the leader spoke his part. His voice resonated firmly, and commanded respect the instant he spoke; he would even bring the human followers to a halt sometimes from a block or more away.

He was wise, there was no doubt of it, and even more so a cunning and capable warrior and a brutal killer than the rest of his ranks combined. Each one of the warriors was strong, muscular, and obviously well versed in killing, but the Leader, whom Cassandra and the others in had unanimously agreed was much older than the rest of the aliens, seemed to have his experience etched into his fading grey skin.

Lewis seemed to be impressed at the leader's ability to seemingly read the minds of his prey. The alien commander was able to anticipate the bugs' attacks and direct his group accordingly, even occasionally issuing a clear cut and unquestioning hand signal or gesture to the human groups, who obeyed without question most of the time.

The warriors were always able to get a heads up on the bugs and they were able to counter the intelligent queen and her nearly equally as well coordinated attacks. The leader was able to think quickly on his feet and redirect his group accordingly to the ever changing moment of battle.

Cassandra did not know whether or not the aliens noticed or cared, but the little group of humans was quickly becoming much more efficient killers than they had been before.

Their ammunition was not getting spent as quickly and every person noticed a higher tally of kills amongst the group. Some of the members had even begun to keep score, even small trophies like teeth or claws, much like the alien warriors' own boney necklaces each one wore.

There was a new feeling amongst the group, a new confidence, and a stronger sensation of hope, something that none had felt in a long time. Cassandra began to notice changes in the group's behaviors and conversations as well.

After another brief but intense battle, both groups found a suitable place to rest as the morning light cracked the sky on a warm morning in late spring.

The humans rested inside a large department store while the aliens remained outside. It was awkward to have the aliens so close, just outside the doors to the building where the humans scavenged shelves and boxes for supplies and food, and it was obvious that neither side was terribly with the arrangement.

The alien hunters kept their limits known.

The aliens and the humans had, at a few points in the last weeks, camped in even closer proximity, though it was uncomfortable for both parties.

The aliens seemed less concerned about being side by side with humans during the heat of battle than they were during periods of rest.

After a few harsh lessons from the aggressive aliens, the human group for the most part kept to themselves, only idly watching the aliens with a passing curiosity.

No one made any attempts to communicate with the warriors, nor to intervene into their space or habits. Cassandra kept her curiosity silent, and though determined to understand the aliens better, she was also careful to keep her attempts out of the sight of the entire group.

As the group scavenged through the building looking for supplies of any kind, Cassandra noticed something quite different about the conversations on that particular early morning.

Many people in the group reflected upon what they used to do before the infestation. They recounted tales of family gatherings, graduations, times shared with friends at bars and barbecues and likes and dislikes about their former jobs.

Smiles flooded the group as they allowed their voices to rise in laughter as they joked and told stories to one another about good times from long ago. Cassandra could not quite recall when the last time such a light and casual conversation had been struck up.

There was a time when it would have done absolutely no good to discuss what was and remind people of all that they had lost, but now people reflected about what was and what would be with a sense of hope and optimism that she had not quite heard before.

They recounted stories of their old lives with a glimmer in their eyes and a look on their faces that defined the hope they were feeling.

They soon shifted to thoughts of the future. They did not talk about any great victories over the final bug hive, but they did talk wantonly about what they would do once life returned to normal.

There was no discussion of cleaning up the cities, rebuilding the planet, and reconstructing the forever changed human civilization, but many in the group did fantasize about their own futures in a world where nothing was wrong, where nothing was out of place.

Cassandra thought about the future, too, although she still had trouble envisioning exactly where the next day would take her, let alone the next decade.

Still, each person had begun to realize that they had been given a new lease on life. Their lives, that had once been so vague, so undefined, now had a purpose, a goal, a bright light at the end of the tunnel that perhaps was gleaming just a little brighter each passing day.

While the sun rose up and the human group settled to rest inside, the alien group settled to rest and tended to their injuries outside. Cassandra glanced out towards the aliens from time to time throughout the day.

The group was mainly scattered around a wide area, some keeping guard, others perhaps sleeping, she could not quite tell.

As evening set and Cassandra's guard duty ended, she once again slipped away, pressing in close to the alien group. She watched them eat, drink, talk, rest, and keep guard, and noticed as she inched just a little closer, perhaps the closest yet, only a dozen yards away, that one of the warriors definitely glanced towards her with his head.

He appeared to be talking to the group's commander who immediately glanced with a distinct nod in her direction while the speaking warrior very noticeably gestured towards her direction.

There was no question she had been noticed. Perhaps this time, she thought, she got too close; pressed in too far.

She could feel her heart pounding as she held her breath and tried to hunker down behind a concrete garden wall, almost immediately regretting her mistake but hoping the aliens would choose to ignore her as they had been for weeks.

The alien language briefly exchanged between two of the warriors and their leader seemed to indicate perhaps they were discussing her presence when one of them clearly vocalized a sound that could only be described as a laugh.

Cassandra smirked, suddenly feeling rather embarrassed.

She did not know what the three aliens were discussing, but somehow she got the distinct impression that she was at the butt end of their joke. She could feel her heart slowly stop pounding.

Instead of nervous apprehension, suddenly Cassandra was filled with the urge to just stand up and walk right over to the aliens. Whatever they had laughed at, she was not happy about it.

It was no secret she was watching them, so she decided she might as well stand up and approach them. She swallowed softly, quelled her pounding chest, and began to rise her feet.

At that exact moment, the unmistakable shrieking calls of the bug drones rang out and the warriors leapt up with catlike reflexes and alarming speed. They grabbed their variety of weapons from the ground around them and Cassandra, now on her feet as well, stood quite still, facing the direction of the shrieking, as the group of aliens began to head out under their leader's direction.

Two of the aliens walked right past her, only feet away, which caught her attention back to her immediate surroundings and she turned once again towards the departing group, eyeing the leader readily approaching her.

Directing his group out to battle, he brought up the rear of the formation as they darted speedily towards the shrieking in the night.

Cassandra felt her body weaken and tremble as the gray haired warrior, clutching a spear that was as long as he was tall, growled something under his breath. She knew they were words, but what he was saying, or who he was saying them to, she could not tell.

He had just directed his group to battle, but his eyes were clearly locked on her as she barely lifted her own to look at him for a fraction of a second. The leader stalked towards her and passed by her so closely he nudged her shoulder with his elbow as he brushed by while she swayed shakily on the spot.

She watched him leave and suddenly felt both foolish and exhilarated. Her heart pounded once again, so loudly it nearly drowned out the distant calls of the bugs.

Cassandra rejoined the rest of her group quickly and quietly. With everyone distracted by the calls through the night air and the departing warrior group, no one noticed her sneak back into the building from the back entrance.

The remainder of the night was a silent one. Only a few people whispered amongst themselves, wondering quietly about the fate of the alien warriors and the bugs that called to them.

No one really understood why the hunters did much of anything, including why they always returned back to the area of the human group. Whether they were protecting the humans by choice or by orders, no one knew, but it certainly left everyone open to debate their speculations, and that seemed to become quite the favorite pastime for everyone in the group.

Cassandra quietly listened, tuning in and out to the whispering conversations around her throughout the night while her mind ran rampant recalling the interaction she had with the leader that night. She barely slept a wink and rustled back to her feet sometime just after dawn.

"Well, they're back." Someone said casually, coolly, as though the alien warriors returned exactly on time, as planned.

Cassandra headed outside and turned her eyes in the direction of the rest of the people watching the aliens reappear as the blazing orange sun lit up the sky.

The warriors were taking to look out points all along the area. Most climbed easily to the tops of buildings and scanned the town, while a few others disappeared into a building.

Cassandra and the others curiously watched the aliens survey the lands around them. She wondered what they could see that human eyes could not; somehow she knew it was much more.

Though the warriors did not associate at all with any person in the group, Cassandra truly felt that when one of the warriors might look at her or another human, it was almost like they were staring right through them.

She could almost feel their deep set eyes, well hidden behind the smoky black panels of the helmets that covered them, burning through her body.

The warriors scanned around the lands they surveyed as the human group on the ground below cast their eyes in every direction and whispered amongst themselves. It seemed that the aliens were at least more relaxed but still cautious and alert, always aware of their surroundings.

Cassandra was not sure if that was a good sign or not, but she did feel relieved when the leader of the group descended from a nearby rooftop and headed through a parking lot. He did not make any sounds, but his group knew to follow his lead, and they began to descend from their lookouts, filing into their formation behind him.

The leader marched directly towards the humans as though they were not in front of him. He growled intimidatingly as he approached the rear of the human group and they split off to allow him passage through.

Without even glancing at the men and women around him, the alien leader paraded to the front of the group, striding briskly past Cassandra and Lewis at the other end, and was soon backed by the rest of his ranks.

The aliens started off on their path, and the humans soon followed, keeping only a short distance between themselves and the aliens.

They walked for hours in through several small empty towns and along a wide flowing river, where both parties stopped only briefly to rest. It did not go unnoticed as the aliens stocked up on water, just how eerily similar the two species were.

Though stronger, faster, and possessed of more stamina and requiring less rest than humans, both species still needed to eat, sleep, eliminate, and recover from exertions, and sometimes, only just rarely, both groups did so in the same proximity.

Empty houses lined the river on both sides and the hunters walked along the river bank while the human group kept closer to the homes, eyeing inside as they passed each one, quickly scanning for anything useful or alive.

The warrior seemed unconcerned with anything in the area, which Cassandra found to be reassuring. She had learned that the aliens had a keen sense for their environment, and were almost always aware of what was going on far before anything happened, but when they did go into alert mode, something was going to happen.

She glanced to the warriors from time to time, checking their status as she had gotten into the habit of doing. It was almost like they had their own internal early warning detection device to inform them well ahead of time to any threats about.

Cassandra attributed it to the group's leader's keen sense and obvious experience so she eyed him frequently to see if his senses told him anything.

Nothing seemed to be wrong in this area, or anywhere nearby, she determined based on the leader's actions. The alien group briefly rested and walked on at a moderate pace, scanning the scenery around them as they always did, but they did not seem concerned.

They walked along the river for quite some time and several miles later veered away from the water banks and headed up a hilly city street. As the human group followed along, the distance between the two species began to grow. The aliens had picked up their pace up the hill.

"They're on to something," Lewis said, eyeing the group's leader as well.

The aliens broke into a run halfway up the steep hill and reached the top in a few moments.

Cassandra and the others bolted into a run and headed to the street at the top of the hill as quickly as they could. Panting furiously for breath when she reached the top, Cassandra felt ready to collapse but she forced herself to keep going.

She turned down the street at the top of the hill and followed the sounds of a battle ahead. The group slowed their pace to a jog as they came into view of an all out war.

They stopped and stared at the sight, allowing their eyes to adjust to what they were seeing as they tried to follow the action.

There were three alien warrior bodies on the ground before them, but they were not from the same group the humans tailed. Cassandra saw the leader and his group dead ahead butchering through a dying swarm of bugs and she started forward with the rest of her group through the blood covered streets.

"Jesus." Someone behind her whispered.

She glanced to her left and right and saw two heavily mutilated alien bodies on either side of the street, and ahead one more. Beyond that bitten and clawed carcass, four more bodies came into view, each with an easily recognizable cause of death.

Their chests were bursted apart. Large chunks of goopy green blood and bone was splayed around the cadavers and onto the sidewalk and streets under them.

The grey skinned leader of the alien group howled angrily as he lifted the last of the drones off its feet on the edge of his bladed weapon and spun it around, tossing it off the tip of his weapon and back to the ground like an unwanted piece of garbage.

The drone hissed as its fizzing body quickly became still and lifeless. Cassandra stared at the bloody street and lifted her eyes back up to the leader.

He turned and stared towards her, at first she looked into his helmet covered eyes as though he was looking at her, but she quickly realized he and his troops were focusing on a point just beyond her.

She turned her head slowly to try to focus on what they were seeing, but as she turned gunfire rang out and the shouting group of panicked people around her dropped to the ground. Cassandra threw herself to the bloody pavement as the warriors howled.

"Hold your fire! Hold! HOLD!"

Lewis yelled to the group of humans that shot and screamed as they ran towards his people and the warrior party, who howled and dodged out of Cassandra's sight as they pulled to a flanking position.

Slowly and warily, the group pulled back up to its feet and stared off in the direction of the gunfire waiting for the shooters to appear. Lewis called out once more, but there was no response.

Cassandra glanced to the aliens warriors that were scattered in the street. Their leader kept his eyes locked on some point that Cassandra was certain was inside a nearby building.

The leader growled something and his troops quickly began to move forward. As they did so, several people came charging out the building that the aliens were staring at. Screaming and hollering, the men rushed into the street and opened fire on the alien warriors.

"No!" Cassandra yelled to the men.

Lewis echoed her yell as did several others but it did no good. The men were pushing their way directly into the howling hunters, firing their guns non-stop at the alien group.

Cassandra rushed towards the men with Lewis and a few others, ready to tackle the men down if necessary. As they moved in though, so did the aliens. Cassandra barely saw it coming out of the corner of her eye.

The leader was on the group of firing humans in a moment, so unconcerned about the weapons they held, the men might just as well have been throwing small pebbles at the tough alien bodies.

The leader raised his double bladed staff and struck down, slamming the curving weapon into the first of the human men shooting at him and the other aliens.

Following his lead, three more of the aliens struck out at the humans and almost as quickly as Cassandra could blink her eye, four humans lay dead in the street.

Lewis fought the weapon out of one man's hand and more wrestled guns out of others' grips. Cassandra shouted to another man that was screaming and cursing at the aliens.

The leader was on his way over to, bringing his weapon into the air, readying it for use. Cassandra howled at the firing man to stop shooting, but he did not seem to hear her.

His shooting raged on and she ignited with a burst of speed, desperate to beat the alien commander to him. She reached out to grab hold of the man's arms. She jumped towards him, not noticing that the leader had already begun his downward strike at the man with the handgun.

Cassandra hit into the firing man with such force he toppled sideways and fell to the ground. She saw the blade of the leader's weapon coming just out of the corner of her eye and a piercing scream shot out through her lips as she cowered to the ground and threw her arms over her face and head and squeezed her eyes shut.

She took a heavy breath and opened her eyes, glancing up through the space in between her arms. She saw the blade of the alien leader's weapon only an inch from her head.

She pulled her hands off her face and stared at him in wild wonder, shaking from head to toe, unable to move. With amazing control, the leader had stopped the slice of his blade.

He pulled the weapon back, growled something and glanced at the human group that had formed in the street.

"Cassy!" Lewis called to her as he dove to his knees to help her up while the leader stalked away.

"You O.K.? Jesus!"

With Lewis's help, Cassandra shakily rose to her feet and reassured him that she was alright, but checked herself out anyway just to be sure.

Once certain for herself that she was alright, she glanced back at the leader warily. He was staring at the new group of humans that were eyeing the aliens with fear, hatred, and rage etched into their faces.

The firing had stopped for the moment and Carlos was beginning to reassure the new found survivors about the aliens while Lewis helped Cassandra to her feet.

"They're not here to harm you! Please, don't shoot!"

"Bullshit, man, they've killed us, you see!" A loud man yelled aggressively.

Lewis cast him an angry glare. "You opened fire. Why did you shoot at us?"

"Sorry, bud, you got in the way. Don't let it happen again," the man forewarned grittily. "We want them! We want their God Damned guns! Big ugly alien bastards won't share! We'll kill every one of them, too. Bastards…" the man cursed and spit and glared angrily at the aliens.

"Did you do this?" Lewis questioned, pointing to the alien warrior cadavers along the ground.

The man shook his head and smirked.

"Nah, man, we came too late for that action. They were all dead and their weapons were gone when we got here."

"Look..." Lewis started but he cut his words off as the alien leader started towards the group of humans.

Immediately the tense situation exploded once more.

The new men raised their weapons and were yelling at the aliens that approached them. The aliens growled and the leader raised his right arm, holding his staff vertically in the other hand.

A double edged pair of two and half foot long jagged blades shot out from the housing on the leader's right arm gauntlet. The weapons clicked audibly into place with a little popping noise and the sound of the trigger being depressed on the man's gun that he approached was equally as audible.

Cassandra and the others ducked to the ground as the gun went off. She tried to see what was going on, but she looked down for just a moment and missed the majority of the next tenth of a second.

The leader had sidestepped the fire or walked right through it, she could not tell, but he had imbedded his wrist mounted blades into the chest of the man that tried to shoot him.

Blood spurted out of the man's mouth and nose and he immediately dangled lifelessly at the end of the blades on the leader's arm. Cassandra looked back up and noticed that the rest of the alien group had now ensnared a few select members of the new group of humans.

"Wait! Jesus! Wait!" Carlos begged of the aliens.

He darted forward and tried to gain the alien commander's attention.

Carlos reached out and grabbed hold of the leader's left arm gauntlet and was promptly shoved backward to the ground with a savage growl from the agitated alien.

He snapped his head around and looked at the human on the ground at his feet and Carlos stared wide eyed between the leader's emotionless mask to the limp carcass hanging at the edge of his wrist blades.

The leader snarled something and dropped the body to the ground, ripping the blades out of the man's chest. As the carcass thudded to the hard pavement, all eyes stayed locked on the leader's double blades.

A maturing chest burster was still attached to the leader's blades, covered in deep red human blood, but very much dead. A tiny drop of acid ran off the creature's long tail and sizzled into the pavement in between the leader's feet.

Carlos clenched his jaw shut and stared at the leader as he pulled himself to his feet. The leader flicked his wrist downward and the slimy dead creature slid off the blades and fell on top of its former host's body.

The leader growled as he turned toward Carlos and cast him a glance that seemed to say 'I told you so'.

"Oh my God," Carlos murmured.

"You are all infected," Cassandra said warily as she looked around at the group of arrivals the warriors were clutching.

It was obvious, at least Casandra thought, that the remainder of the leader's group was waiting for his go ahead to dispose of the infected hosts and the sadistic little offspring inside them.

As had been the case so many times before the infected men and women began to sob, beg, plead, as they realized the ends of their lives were imminent. It seemed clear, though, that the aliens were trying to be as respectful as possible while still doing a necessary deed.

Only three of the newcomers were not drawing the attention of the aliens, which implied that none of them were impregnated. Cassandra didn't know how it was possible, but the alien warriors could see the developing fetuses inside the hosts, and knew exactly who had been impregnated and who was not.

"I'm sorry," Lewis said after a brief back and forth pleading.

Whether or not the alien leader understood what was being said, Cassandra could not be sure, but he definitely seemed to take the tone of the words Lewis spoke as a conclusion; permission even, to do what needed to be done.

Silenced by the sight, Cassandra, Carlos, and the rest shut their eyes and dropped their heads as the alien group made quick work of killing the rest of the hosts. Ten more bodies thudded to the ground after a quick crunching sound. The other three sighed heavily when the aliens turned their backs on the humans and started along the street.

The group continued to follow the warriors, explaining the situation to the new arrivals, who were still mortified by all that they had witnessed.

Though they were familiar with the aliens, and knew they had arrived some time ago, they had assumed the creatures were enemies and had taken with a few other survivors they had found. They had tried to kill the alien creatures, but the few that they were tracking disappeared.

"...and when we found them again, they were dead. Some must have survived and took the weapons with them. We didn't know that the others...that they...that they were infected. Oh, God." The woman finished explaining.

"It's alright, it's over now," Carlos comforted the pretty, but frightened woman softly.

The group continued on quietly. The aliens seemed uninjured and unimpressed with the human fire fight towards them from just a moment ago.

They had already turned their backs on the group and were striding quickly away from the scene, unconcerned with their fallen kin and unmournful for the loss of human life they had created.

They marched on without stopping, traveling through the rest of the day, into the night and only pausing briefly when the small group of human tailgaters stopped for a rest.

The air around their resting spot was still and heavy, thick and soured. A foul stench floated in the musky air and Cassandra knew what it was immediately. She had become accustomed to the odor. The scent was becoming second nature.

She wondered if the alien hunters were smelling out hives, following the horrible trail of rotting flesh and acidic secretions that grew the heaviest when they drew nearer to a hive.

The warriors were following the trail of blood, death, and misery, like a hunting dog hot on the scent of its quarry and they never steered wrong.

As she and the others tried to rest for a short while, Cassandra fought her heavy eyelids and kept her eyes on the alien group.

They had fanned out, creating a wide semi-circle along one side of the human group that rested crowded close to one another. Cassandra and many others around her had noticed that the alien hunters seemed to be all eyeing the same direction.

She panned her eyes along the wide formation, straining to see as best as she could against the dark, moonless night sky until her eyes fell upon the leader of the alien group once again.

He was at the center of the arcing formation and overlooking the valley that sat below the mountainside they had slowly begun to pass.

From the highway, Cassandra and the others could not see to the valley below, but from the mountain turf beyond the guardrail, the leader crouched low the ground, studying the sights below.

Curious, Lewis and three other men slowly crept forward.

Cassandra heard them whispering amongst each other, quietly wondering what the aliens were spying upon. She snuck behind the group and craned her neck to eye the leader a little more.

He dropped out of sight, sliding just over the drop off several dozen feet beyond the highway. He must not have gone far, Cassandra quietly thought, for the other aliens barely moved and usually where their leader went, the troops followed.

She pulled herself over the guardrail, glancing back at the remainder of the group, most of whom were now eyeing the straying people wildly and fearfully.

As Cassandra took several steps closer to the edge of the mountain, she thought the scent in the air had grown stronger and she suddenly felt her heart racing as though it was all new once again.

She came to the edge of the flat area and glanced down. Barely ten feet below her feet crouched the alien leader on a small jutting out portion of the sloping mountainside.

His eyes were locked onto the dark city in the valley beyond the cliff and he did not acknowledge the five humans standing just above his head. A strong clicking sound emanated from his helmeted face and a few of the other aliens had crept down the hillside to get a better view.

"What are they seeing?" Lewis whispered softly.

No one responded; they all simply stared off to the valley.

Cassandra decided that the aliens' vision must have been either much better than the humans' and they were watching attentively whatever it was they spied, or their vision was far worse, and they were straining their eyes just as much as the humans to see.

All Cassandra could see was the vaguest outline of a town. She could not define any buildings, nor could she see any roads or any hint of recognizable structures.

Given the distance the groups were at, and the dark late night sky that was void of stars and the moon, Cassandra wondered how anyone could see anything.

Not even the glow of the still hovering alien spacecrafts were enough to cast light on what the alien hunters carefully and quietly watched.

As each one began to crouch to a squatting position, Cassandra thought they looked like a cat ready to pounce on a mouse it was stalking.

Her heart throbbed in between her own ears and she held her breath, awaiting any hint of movement from anyone or anything. The tension in the moment lasted an eternity and neither man, woman, nor alien moved or made a sound.

Even the rolling clicking from the leader ceased and the air was threateningly still and lifeless. Cassandra strained through the quietness to hear the slightest hint of anything that could be moving in the trees along the mountain, down to the valley, and in the city below.

The void was overwhelming.

Suddenly, Cassandra did hear movement. It was slow, faint, and approaching, and she was almost grateful for the break in the silence.

She could tell that the noise was the delicate rustling of the ground from behind her caused by gently creeping footsteps as another curious person eased near to the eyeing group. The approaching person spoke softly, trying to control the level of his voice and the tension in his words.

"What are you staring at?" He whispered slowly.

No one responded and without another word the man clicked on a small, dulling flashlight. The tiny bulb illuminated very little and only created a fuzzy yellow haze that reached barely two dozen feet beyond where they were standing.

The illuminated rays glided past the leader's head and the beads in his gray dread locks twinkled gold in the light. He shuffled sideways cautiously, seemingly annoyed at the ray of light and as Cassandra's eyes followed the dying beam she understood why.

The light glistened in to the woods, highlighting the beginning outline of a vast army that rested silently awaiting their moment to attack. The creatures never made a sound, never a hiss, nor a deep breath.

They did not snap a twig nor rustle a leaf, nor did they charge forth with uncontrolled savagery. Their impossibly hard black bodies provided unequaled camouflage against the night that shrouded them, as the creatures awaited the perfect moment to attack.

Cassandra only saw the army for an instant in that flicker. Her heart stopped and threw itself into her throat and she was certain that just as the aliens were hunting the bugs, the massive black serpents were hunting their killers right back.

As quickly as the flashlight clicked on, so lasted the moment where the two species faced off with each other. They had crept up to one another in sheer silence and the unending crowd of bugs squared off with their alien foes and human adversaries.

The tension ignited as quickly as the _click_ of the button on the flashlight.

Not only did the instant flicker of dull light illuminate the serpent sea crouching on the hillside, it also triggered the warrior hunters into action.

With a mighty roar from the alien fighters and a savage shriek from the monstrous bugs, the two armies clashed together in the shadows of the dying flashlight bulb.

So soon were the alien troops so deeply surrounded by their savage enemies, they had disappeared into the sea of the black creatures.

Although many slain bug hides were quickly getting tossed to the ground in all directions, cast off the tips of the warrior's bladed spears while other hunters shot the animals with their shoulder and hand guns, it did not take long at all before the bright green blood of the alien fighters began to make the black ground glow in the moonlight.

Cassandra and the others stood for a stunned moment with their jaws gaping.

It took several seconds for the sight to absorb into her mind, but as Lewis thrust her sideways with such force to avoid an acidic corpse that was flying her direction that her shoulder collided brutally with a nearby tree, she pulled herself out of her surrealistic terrified wonder and whirled around, weapon raised, but barely aimed, and opened fire.

As she opened fire, she did not even notice that the rest of the group around her had done the same.

The flashing sparks from the array of weaponry utilized by both man and alien ignited the battlefield in a constant flickering series, but the lights and noises of the various weaponry were soon blocked out.

Cassandra could only focus on her own thumping heart beating wildly and fearsomely in her chest. She could not see anything in front of her eyes, not even when the lights flickered. Her mind had stopped thinking and had simply begun to react.

Despite her shaking hands, she fired her rifle until it was dry, immediately reloaded and fired again without focusing, thinking, or aiming. Her arms felt weak, her breath soon became unbearably heavy and her body was shivering.

The fear she felt was overwhelmed with an array of emotions she was sure she had never felt before.

A sharp howl rang through the air and for a brief moment Cassandra was able to focus on something outside of her pounding head.

Her eyes cast to one side and she saw a forceful stream of bright green blood spurt across several bug drones. The alien hunter in front of the drones had collapsed backwards with a mighty roar and a torn apart body.

Taken slightly aback by the sight of the great warrior faltering, one man not far from the alien's helmeted head, stopped firing a blink of an eye too long and three of the monstrous beasts pounced on him like mighty jungle cats tackling their prey.

As two more men rushed over to try to help their friend, another small cluster of bug drones savaged the would-be rescuers.

Cassandra's attention was drawn away from the attacking swarm as she began to watch person after person fall victim to the demonic creatures.

The already green tinted ground and corpses that littered it had now begun to turn deep mahogany from the seeping human blood that melded with the fallen alien's. The bug army had found their hole and they were quickly penetrating through the futile resistance.

Cassandra's eyes lifted barely from the cadavers that were quickly lining the ground and out of the corner of her vision she noticed the rest of the alien warriors still working their way through the unending sea of drones that surrounded them.

The leader of the alien group wielded his massive double bladed staff like a well trained professional, but even in the fleeting second that she saw him, Cassandra still spotted the gash in his left arm that was streaming blood to the ground.

For a moment, the night seemed to be happening in slow motion.

There was a strange lull in the air, a brief second that lasted for a millennia within itself. Cassandra's eyes took advantage of the time and scanned over the group, watching in horror as more humans fell victim to the drones that swarmed them while others ran away down the road.

Her eyes settled onto another warrior alien. She saw him swing his blade around, slashing at the drones around him with a deep ferocity. But even all of his might, strength, and finely honed weapons were no match for the growing numbers.

Not far from the spot where his companion had fallen, the second warrior dropped to the ground. Still fighting as he hit his knees, the alien's body was soon blacked out, completely surrounded by the demonic drones.

She felt nauseous, weak, ready to drop to her knees and await the future she suddenly realized was quickly approaching. She slowly squeezed her eyes shut and felt her grip weaken on the rifle in her hands.

She opened her eyes again as she heard a sinister hiss from not far behind her head. Her eyes set upon the leader of the alien group. He had turned in her direction, eyes cast just to the back of Cassandra.

Lewis shouted loudly with a ragged breathing and the sound of his yell rivaled the pitch of the hissing just behind her skull. Snapped back into the fighting, Cassandra spun around quickly, lowering her body to a crouch and raising her weapon.

She pulled the trigger before she could barely focus on the beast that was there. The creature hissed angrily as the powerful bullets impacted through its skull and it dropped to the ground. Cassandra threw herself backwards, narrowly avoiding the spray of acid that resulted from the kill.

With a deep sigh and a quick, shocked glance back to the leader of the aliens who was immediately preoccupied with killing drones, she pulled herself back to her feet and opened fire once more. Her rifle emptied and she fumbled with her ammo pack to pull two more clips from the bag still tied to her waist.

She snapped one into her rifle and gripped the other one between her teeth, readying it for nearly immediate use. Cassandra began to break free from the emotional currents that raged inside her, and though her heart still banged painfully in her chest, she fired at the sea of drone creatures that still swarmed like a robot programmed to do only one thing.

She stood her ground and thought about nothing other than keeping bullets in her weapon.

As the sea of drones pressed, the remaining human group, and the rest of the alien warriors began to pull together, creating a solid fence line against the horde.

The scent of gun powder, charred acidic bodies, and alien blood rushed into her nostrils with every forced breath. The overwhelming odor made her dizzy and light headed.

Wide eyed, sweaty, and bloody, the human survivors stared at one another and to the ten alien hunters around them.

It seemed for a quick moment that each being was evaluating themselves and the one next to them for their continued battle readiness. Cassandra looked about at the two intertwined groups stunned that they had all made it that far through the battle.

None had managed to fight their way through the horde unscathed, though. It was only now that Cassandra had even realized her own thigh and arm were bleeding from deep gashes.

She certainly did not remember getting the injuries inflicted upon her, but as her adrenaline levels plateaued just enough, she began to feel the intense pain from the wounds.

She glanced at her bleeding leg and even under the night sky, she could tell that her pants had been clawed open and her leg along with it. The injury on her arm was less severe but equally as painful and as she quickly glanced at it, she was sure she had been grazed by a bullet.

The rest of the group around her had similar injuries. Human and alien alike, each had clawed marks through various parts of their bodies, or chunks of skin and muscle torn away courtesy of the metallic tooth lined snapping jaws of their enemy.

Suddenly the leader called out loudly to his warriors. Cassandra glanced down the hill and realized yet more of the terrible creatures were writhing their way up to the severely outnumbered and slowly wearying group of fighters.

She glanced back to the roadway, over the guardrail and far down the empty stretch of cold pavement where the other half of the human survivors stood and waiting in shock, awe, and fear, clearly torn between running away and waiting for their friends to escape the battle.

The alien warriors, with one quick gesture of the leader's hand, that the humans promptly followed, pulled back quickly.

The leader called for a retreat. But he stood his ground while the others began to vacate the area. Lewis grabbed at her shoulder to pull her hot on the heels of the alien warriors to safety, but Cassandra stuck to her spot and watched the leader warily, holding her breath.

He seemed, in those few short seconds, completely unconcerned that the horde was nearly on him.

"What is he doing?" She whispered with a gasp.

"Who cares, let's go!" Lewis called sharply and yanked on her again.

Cassandra remained glued to her spot, eyes focused on the alien leader.

She had seen him, over the last few weeks, fight viciously and aggressively and almost endlessly against the hordes of bugs and into entire hives and against queens. He was skilled, experienced, and an utterly dangerous opponent for the deadly creatures.

She had watched him leap onto the back of an alien queen twice and run his staff through her to bring her down, something that none of the others in his group seemed terribly willing to attempt.

There was no question why he was the leader. She could not imagine why he stopped his fight, told his troops to retreat, and stood grounded to the spot before her eyes.

His injuries did not seem that severe, she quickly determined. He was bleeding from a gash in his arm and along his abdomen, but he still stood strong, and he could obviously walk and move.

Cassandra eyed him as just a few seconds ticked by. Had he given up? She wondered if he was standing as a decoy to help give his group a little extra time to get away to safety.

Lewis screamed to her and yanked on her shoulder one more time just as the leader detached a panel off his arm band. In the fraction of a second before he tossed it into the approaching horde and spun on his heels, Cassandra could see lights flickering and disappearing on the device.

The leader howled loudly as he spun, his dredlock hair whipping wildly in his wake. She was quite certain he was staring right at her, yelling something – get away, perhaps.

"That's a bomb! Move!" Lewis concluded quickly by the haste of the escape efforts of the aliens.

It all happened so quickly, Cassandra wasn't quite sure what had really transpired. Seconds passed between the leader's howling call for retreat and her own running away with Lewis, inches away from the alien leader.

The explosion from the valley below boomed up with such ferocity the shock wave rocked the ground and caused a massive implosion of the hillside.

Both groups ran at top speeds away from the blast, no longer avoiding the drones themselves, but now instead, trying to avoid flames, shrapnel, and implosions. Once they reached a safe enough distance, the groups both pulled to a halt in unison and exasperated humans crumbled over to catch their breath.

Cassandra dropped to the pavement, shaking with fear, adrenaline, and shock. She glanced about and spied the leader casually striding towards his troops, no worse for wear apparently. She sighed deeply and tried to slow her breath.

The group around her gasped and cried and prayed and groaned and sighed. It was almost a sigh of relief but not quite.

The tension was still thicker than the blood that was clotting on the ground all around them and as the remaining humans looked to the alien warriors that were scanning the town just at the beyond the exit ramp, they knew the battle was just beginning.

Exhausted, injured, and mostly low on ammunition and energy, Cassandra and the others followed the obviously equally as weary alien hunters off the exit ramp and onto the city streets below.

Trying to control their breathing without making too much noise, the group of shaky humans stalked as silently as the aliens they followed, unwaveringly forward into the hive entrance that had been constructed between two buildings, and draped across the street.

The massive canopy above their heads, though void of any of its drone keepers, seemed to be pulsating with a grotesque life unto itself.

The thick walls of the hive completely covered the buildings that they were built upon and the spun roof was lined with satanic secretions that looked similar to a spine and ribs.

Cassandra felt like she was walking into the skeleton of a massive creature that should never have been allowed to exist. The grayish secretions were so thick the moon above could not penetrate, and as Cassandra stalked so deep into the hive that she could barely see, she was certain she had crossed the threshold into an alien world where Earth once stood.

They were walking into a cave that cut its way straight to hell and was lined with the secretions of the devil itself. There was no earthly resemblance inside the hive to anything familiar other than death and horror.

She stopped and took a deep, shaky breath. She felt someone behind her slam into her, caught unprepared by her sudden halt and obviously unable to see as well.

Cassandra hesitantly reached to her side and touched the slimy wall for a brace. She was certain that she had been traveling downhill, but without a light to guide by, she could not even be sure of that.

Reluctantly, the blinded group that surrounded Cassandra began to whisper softly to one another. Like bats in a cave, they used their voices to find one another, and received a sharp growl from the alien group in front of them for their effort.

Lewis found Cassandra and placed his hand on her shoulder. He circled around her and took the lead. Cassandra gripped the back of his shirt so hard her fingers hurt. Carlos placed his hand on Cassandra's shoulder and someone behind him had done the same.

Relying on the person in front for some support and guidance, the small human group created a chain and moved forward one step at a time in the undefinable black void.

Cassandra wondered how it was that the warriors could even see inside such a tomb. If it was not for the very occasional rustling of a foot along the ground, Cassandra would not have even known that the aliens were still there in the black distance in front of her.

They stalked like hunters, quietly, without a hint of fear or emotion. Even the glowing bright blood they leaked had blackened itself and did not give away their position.

Cassandra fumbled with one hand along the wall while the other clenched Lewis's shirt. Time after time someone would step on another's heel and cause a chain reaction of tripping and stumbling.

Given a different time and place the chain of people tripping over each other would have been comical, but each time the group was thrown off balance, they could not recoup without some noise, which created the threat of giving away their position.

At least one of the aliens in the front of the group would offer a quick growl every time the blind Congo line fell loose.

At one point the group walked as straight as they could be sure they were going and Lewis slammed harshly into a wall. Cassandra thumped into his head with her chin and the rest of the group walked into the back of the person in front of themselves.

The aliens had followed the hive through a turn to the right, which none of the humans could possibly see.

When one alien clicked and the group was able to follow the sound, Cassandra was then certain that the aliens had impeccable night vision. While the drones seemed to truly be the most perfect killers, the warrior aliens were equally matched as the perfect hunters for the nightmarish monsters.

They navigated the lightless labyrinth with ease, mostly noiseless, and seemingly completely fearless.

Cassandra had lost all sense of time and reality. She could very well have been wandering the dark corridor that she could not see for days and not have known the difference.

The stale air that met her nostrils and the black void the shrouded her was so far from all that was familiar and real, Cassandra could almost feel herself going mad in the darkness.

Fear was taking control once more and her heart raced to meet it. Her eyes began to play tricks on her.

Where people trapped for waterless days in some distant desert might suddenly be sure they could see a vast sparkling clear blue pool just ahead and rush to it licking their lips, Cassandra was certain she could see a glimmering, toothy mouth snap in her direction, hear the awful hiss of the creators of that nightmare, and she could feel her finger tickle the trigger of her weapon each time.

She jumped slightly, trying not to relinquish her grip on Lewis's shoulder, but wanting to avoid the drone she was certain was snapping at her from the wall she groped with her other hand.

Lewis stopped momentarily to silently reassure her. His hand tapped hers and he squeezed his fingers over her palm supportively.

Another hiss echoed in her ears, but this one, she quickly decided, she did not imagine. Others had heard it too. Lewis stopped in his tracks and someone at the rear of the group yelled out in fear and opened fire.

The dark tunnel came to life once more in the fiery haze of the semi-automatic weapon.

Filled with fear, and probably the same visions Cassandra was having, someone in the back of the group shot the walls around him until others wrestled him to the ground howling for him to cease fire.

There were drones in the hive, and if they were not already aware of the invaders' presence, the gunfire and outcries certainly alerted the satanic monsters.

Lewis loosened his grip on her and darted to the back of the group to help quell the situation. Cassandra pressed her back to the wall and quietly waited for the group to settle. She concentrated on keeping her breathing under control, focusing her mind solely on not making any more noise than she had to.

She felt something brush up against her and she shrieked, calling for Lewis. Lewis called to her from somewhere at the end of the group and she reassured him.

Something had brushed against her in the darkness, but it was not one of the nightmarish acid blood creatures. She tried to see through the darkness.

Unable, she pawed for the wall and pointed herself in the direction she had been walking, fanning her other hand in front of her. With a deep breath she took a solid step forward and her hand grasped on to something just ahead.

She groped at the strange thing she could not see and suddenly heard a ticking growl. Her eyes widened and she took a rugged breath as she realized she was grabbing at the back of one of the alien hunters.

The warrior stepped forward and as she felt him move out from her reach, she lunged forward to grab him again. Unable to see, she tripped over the back of the alien's heels as she darted towards him.

She fell forward with a quick groan and grabbed at the hunter's back until she had a solid hold on his belt. The warrior growled once more but stepped forward a little softer the next time, allowing her to keep her pace with him as they walked.

Once again the trail was formed and the group quietly stalked through the dark corridor.

Lewis still fought as quietly as possible with the man at the back of the line.

Cassandra could hear Lewis from time to time, but mostly she heard the hysterical whispering voice of someone whose mind had been lost in the darkness. She sympathized with him, knowing exactly how he felt, but she swallowed and pressed forward along with the alien that she clutched on to, her rifle swinging at her hips.

They walked through the endless dark tunnels blindly following their alien leaders. Cassandra shook from the cold air that seeped into her skin and the fear that was welling up inside her along with the anxiety over wondering when the alien she clutched was going to grow tired of her hand pulling on his belt and backhand her to the ground.

She took a deep breath and gently placed one foot in front of the other, trying to feel her way over the rutted ground through the tip of her boots. Every so often, she casually glanced back to the end of the group where Lewis was still trying to control the outbursts of the man at the end of the row.

Though she could not see him, she could follow the hushed whisper of Lewis' voice to pick his general location at all times.

Hisses rang out through the lightless void, causing more of a panic with each step. Cassandra tried to keep her fears to a minimum, but she was unable to stay totally silent each time a bug drone voice shot through the air.

Suddenly, the deep foreboding hiss of the gigantic queen, the mother of the hive, the layer of the eggs, and the maker of hell, echoed off the chamber walls.

Even the alien guides seemed rattled by the queen's taunting call. The warrior Cassandra grasped tightly to stopped and she could feel him shuffle about. She was not sure what he was doing, but she thought he was switching weapons.

Suddenly he crouched down with such unexpectedness Cassandra's grip was torn loose. Her heart skipped a beat. She had lost her set of eyes in the undefinable black maze, and she did not know if they were under attack or if her guide had fallen.

She stretched her hand down and forward and searched for the alien that had disappeared before her. Not knowing that she had stopped, Carlos slammed into her back and pushed her slightly forward as the others behind him did the same like a chain of dominos.

Cassandra hunched forward and her outstretched arm slammed into the back of the alien she searched for. She took a deep breath and held it for a moment as she felt the alien's back. Her hand patted his muscular torso and moved gently up into his smooth ropy locks of hair.

She frowned, trying to determine if the alien was just stopped or had died silently. He slid forward and she tugged on his hair as he moved away from her grasp once more with an annoyed growl.

Once more Cassandra panned quickly into the darkness in front of her.

This time her hand collided with a solid wall at the level of her chin. She felt around and realized that the opening of their ever- narrowing walkway had been reduced to half. She crouched down just behind the alien in front of her and followed them through the pitch black tunnel.

She whispered softly to Carlos and he sent the message down the chain. Without any trouble, each tailgater was able to navigate into the low passageway quietly. Cassandra tried to stretch upwards, testing the height of the ceiling above her and found that she could not stand completely straight.

The grittily spun rooftop could not be more than five feet high. The aliens in front of her, she thought, must have been crawling, for they were much taller than any human.

The walls around her began to narrow as she crept hunched over through the dark passageway. She could feel her heart and her breathing speed up as claustrophobia set in.

The space around her became so narrow that she could not imagine how the giant hunters, with their somewhat bulky armor, could even still be fitting through.

The rifle that was slung over her shoulder streaked against the walls with a spine tingling scratching noise until she pressed it firmly against her own body to silence it. Only the sounds of her own heart and desperate breathing filled her ears.

No one else whispered or even breathed too loudly. Even the frightened man Lewis had been trying to hush fell silent through the terrifying passage.

Suddenly, Cassandra's head was able to stretch completely up. She still could not see, but she knew she was out of the narrow pass. The walls around her regressed and she stood erect.

She instantly pulled her weapon back to a useful position, and despite her blind eyes, she looked around as if she might see something that could give the blankness some depth. For a brief moment, she sensed that nothing, not man nor beast, nor alien hunter was moving.

She found herself filling with anxiety and adrenaline as she wondered what her night-vision blessed guide was staring silently and motionlessly towards.

When the shrieks rang out, she no longer had to wonder. Unable to see, a panicked firefight quickly broke out amongst the human ranks.

Cassandra tried her best to focus, to hear a vile squeal from a bug and aim in that direction, but she feared that the others around her were not doing the same.

Suddenly she realized that she was not only at risk of being shredded by the drones whose home she had invaded, but she might well also end up riddled with bullets from the unfocused spray of the group around her.

As the aliens in their company opened fire, the lighted blasts from their bright blue bolt casters lit the room for microseconds, but it was just barely enough to allow her to comprehend her surroundings.

She could hear the squeals of the drones that had been struck down, and the angry shrieks of the next drone pouncing its attack.

Her ears were filling with the deafening rings of the weapons in the enclosed area and the blood thirsty growls of the alien warriors. In the flashes of lights she was able to see what was actually going on around her.

She realized in the first few simultaneous flickers that she was in a fairly large dome shaped area, completely surrounded on all sides by the bugs that had spun the walls around her. The creature's silvery, saliva covered teeth glistened as they snapped at their foes in the blue flicker of alien fire.

Slowly, the aliens began to fall towards the far end of the curving room. Those of the human group that had noticed had begun to follow suit.

In the momentary blasts of light, Cassandra, Lewis, and Carlos found each other and formed a narrow line as each tried to help the next towards the alien group and towards an opening in the wall beyond them. Cassandra did her best to maintain a controlled fire, but as her face and body was splattered with bright green blood of an injured warrior just in front of her, she shrieked and squeezed her eyes and the trigger.

Before she could get her reflexes back under control, the bullets from her rifle sprayed around in all directions.

As the warrior that had already been sliced into by the drones howled once more, she saw a fresh spurt of blood emerge from his leg and knew she had shot him as well.

"Oh shit!" Cassandra squealed.

The alien did not seem to notice or care or pay it any mind as he readily took on two bug drones that charged him. Cassandra tried not to focus on what just transpired, and instead, concentrated her efforts on heading spryly towards the exit where the rest of the alien group was now disappearing into.

The trio shot off shouting for any others that could to follow and as Cassandra turned back, she noticed that the severely injured warrior was limping his way towards the gaping hole in the wall as well, still firing his bright blue caster at the drones that swarmed him as he made his exit.

On the other side of the opening, Cassandra's attention was instantly drawn to a very slight ray of moonbeam that was peeking through a small spot just ahead in the distance. The light was not enough to illuminate the room they had just walked into, but it did seem to shine like a beacon, like a bright red neon EXIT sign.

With a joyful glee, several people around her shot over towards the light like excited children. They fumbled forward, still unable to see in the dark chamber, and the first person in the group shouted out in pain as he toppled over a drop off and fell several feet, cracking his leg on something solid.

Cautiously groping the area around them, but trying to hurry to help their friend, several other people pawed their way to the edge of the terrain and felt the drop off. Cassandra kept a hand on Lewis's shoulder as he crouched down and pawed the ground.

She eyed the gray blue ray of moonbeam and listened to the group around her discuss what they could feel.

Lewis suddenly thumped himself over the side and Cassandra squealed in fright.

"It's Ok, it's only three feet or so down." He reassured her and the wary shouting group before him.

In the darkness, the group obeyed Lewis's direction and they carefully lowered themselves into the recess. As some helped the fallen man to his feet, Lewis, Carlos and Cassandra glanced to the moon beam and tried to eye the darkness around them.

Their eyes were beginning to adjust to the new shade of light in the room, and Cassandra noticed the silhouette of the last, bloody and still limping, alien warrior disappear into yet another opening.

"We're in a god damned train tunnel." Lewis said suddenly.

As the others looked around, they too began to see the familiarity of the place. The light was coming from an almost totally closed hole at the top of the stairs that would lead up to the street.

The group was standing atop the tracks and the drop off was the edge of the waiting platform. It was all so vague, in the darkness and covered in the drone's secretions that there was almost no earthly resemblance, but the group was still certain they knew the structure they were in.

Suddenly howls and weapon fire rang out from somewhere down the tunnel. The aliens had traveled through a hole in the drone-created wall, and were now obviously engaged in battle on the other side.

Savage shrieks filled the chambers, shrieks only possible from a queen. Cassandra's eyes grew wide and her heart skipped a beat as she looked towards Lewis in the silhouetted light.

All eyes were cast towards the sounds of the battle and each person seemed to be holding their breath, awaiting a decision. Lewis turned to the group behind him.

He glanced at the man with the broken leg, Carlos and another supporting him and two more staring in wide eyed fright between the battle and the light. He looked back to Cassandra, who was amidst five more were all staring towards the battle, now completely uninterested in the lighted exit.

Lewis swallowed and glanced towards the howl of the alien warriors once more. He turned back to the group behind him.

"Make us an exit!" He said, quickly scaling back up to the waiting platform.

He turned and glanced back to the group. There was no argument, nor any need to question their actions or motivations.

Those too injured or too fearful parted from the rest and pulled themselves up to the platform on the other side of the tracks, slowly climbing the resin covered stair well towards the light at the end of the tunnel. Lewis, Cassandra, and five others did not look back to them.

They turned towards the sounds of the battle and darted forward, weapons ready, hearts racing, prepared to either end the battle or die trying.


	23. Chapter 22

**CHAPTER TWENTY TWO**

Blinded once more by complete darkness, Cassandra pulled to halt just behind Lewis once she had run through the opening in the wall.

She was greeted by the terrifying sounds of a ferocious battle that she could barely see.

The queen shrieked and hissed in a high pitched and angered voice as the hunters that attacked her and her offspring pressed on despite the darkness, the numbers around them, and their injuries. It seemed that only one or two hunters were now utilizing their blue flame weapons, Cassandra noticed.

Only a few short bursts from the weapons lighted the area, but it was enough to see all that she needed to.

The Queen of the drones charged forth in one instant, snapping her inner set of jaws and hissing wildly as she lunged for the alien fighters.

In that moment, Cassandra and the others opened fire at the queen. She apparently did not notice, or care, that the small cluster of humans were in her hive as well until they fired upon her.

She pulled back from her attack and whirled around madly. In the next flash of alien weapon fire, Cassandra could see the queen charging in her direction like an angry bull.

She thrust her head down and rammed her massive crown at the small cluster of still firing humans. The flicker of light had died out so quickly that there was almost no time to perceive the danger they were in and react to it.

Cassandra felt the collision with her shoulder as the queen grazed her.

A sharp point at the tip of one of the queen's mantle protrusions dug into her arm as the queen pulled her head backwards. Cassandra howled with pain as the already injured arm was gored even more.

She barely realized that she was attached to the queen for just a moment by a thin layer of tissue that was quickly tearing from her bone. As the monster hissed and spun around once more towards the aliens that were attacking from her other end, Cassandra was flung to the ground at the feet of the alien troops.

She was only vaguely aware of the shouting crowd somewhere in the darkness behind her and she was quickly pulled to her feet by the hand of the alien leader and cast off to the side, as though she was merely in his way.

She prepared to aim her weapon and realized that it was not where it should have been. Frightened, she stared at her empty hands that she could not see.

Her eyes shot around the dark room searching for the weapon she could not find. The queen hissed a wild shriek and lashed out her tail.

Cassandra did not see the jet black tail in the lightless space, but she heard the deep thud as the queen's tail collided with the hunter warrior next to her.

She felt a spray of blood hit her face and glanced over to see the hunter rising off his feet.

She dropped to the ground before she was hit again with the mangled corpse as the queen tossed it aside. She heard the alien's fire caster clatter to the hard ground somewhere close by and instantly panned her hands around frantically searching for the weapon.

The hunters around her roared out, either in anger or fear, she could not be sure. She looked back and saw the hunter group pressing in closer to the now surrounded queen.

The hunters attacked in a circular formation, fully surrounding the queen as she hissed and howled and separated her back end slowly from the giant tubule through which her eggs were deposited. Continued weapon fire and shouting from the human group told her those very eggs were hatching and adding an additional element of danger.

"Great…" Cassandra muttered to herself as she continued to grope the ground while the alien pack surrounded its quarry, howling and striking at her with spears as more drones began to rush into the scene to their mother's aide.

She found what she was looking for and Cassandra pulled herself to her feet, watching the battle in the flickering weapon fire as she shot off the alien weapon.

She set her eyes on the queen that was rearing towards the alien group just in front of her, howling evilly at the warriors.

Cassandra clenched her jaw tight, gripped the large, cumbersome and heavy alien weapon in both arms, cradling it more closely to her than a baby and placed her hand over the trigger.

She nearly fired the weapon but the queen leaped suddenly into the air and sent the warriors scattering to avoid the impact of claws, teeth, and spiny tail as she landed amidst the group. Cassandra instinctively leapt to one side and nearly fell as she toppled over the alien warrior that had been struck down next to her.

She glanced down at the warrior as though to consider her apologizes to the carcass or gratitude for the weapon, but quickly realized that he was not yet dead.

Severely injured, but still conscious, the alien fighter was moving and gurgling a dying growl.

Cassandra glanced to the warriors around her and for a moment she stared at the expressionless mask over the leader's head. He seemed to be acknowledging his fallen soldier, or that she had taken his weapon, she couldn't quite be sure.

Cassandra felt chills run down her spine as she heard the mutilated alien pressing buttons on his left arm piece. She glanced around and saw the now familiar bright red display screen gleam in the darkness.

"Oh no, not again," she muttered and yelled out to anyone who would listen to run.

The red lights on the arm band shone through the void like a blazing red flare, and attracted the attention of Lewis and the others on the far side of the room, as they suddenly realized why Cassandra was yelling to get out.

For just a moment, their fire fight slowed as each person glanced in the direction of the red lighted panel. Lewis hollered to Cassandra as his eyes locked on to her in the shadow of the glowing display.

She jumped to her feet and quickly glided around the room, circling wide away from the queen. The warriors opened fire on the queen and followed Cassandra without hesitation.

Cassandra picked up speed and bolted towards Lewis and the others. She caught up to him without delay and nearly toppled him over as the group pressed into the tunnel beyond them for a hasty escape. The aliens were right behind her.

As they made their escape from the queen's chamber, the injured warrior on the ground made his best effort to produce a savage howl and the queen turned on him.

The queen charged at the howling alien and hunched over the top of him. She shot her secondary set of jaws out of her mouth and they collided abruptly with the fallen warrior's forehead.

The sickly crunching sound of punctured skull did not drain out the sound of the increased beeping from the activated self -destruct device.

In the tunnels beyond the queen's chamber the humans rushed to put as much distance as possible between them and the blast while aliens, once in an open enough portion of tunnel to get to the lead, quickly put themselves in front of the humans.

They bolted over the train tracks towards the lighted exit.

Cassandra only concentrated on keeping her breath and keeping pace with the fleeing group.

Excited by the bolting exit the two groups had made from the exit they created, Carlos and the others jumped to their feet from their holding point a few blocks away and were already starting to dance on their feet, ready to run with the alien group that shot past them with tremendous force.

"RUN!" Lewis howled to Carlos as he and the others approached with speed that almost equaled the powerful aliens'.

The small cluster did not hesitate. They immediately turned around and followed the alien group down the street, far away from the core of the hive.

Carlos yanked the man with the broken leg off the ground and the man cried out in agony. Lewis tucked his arm under the man's other side as he sped by and together, the two carried the other with as much speed as they could produce.

Cassandra shot past them, but slowed and turned, not wanting to abandon her companions. Briefly, she hoped they would just drop their burden and flee on their own light feet, but she quickly cursed herself for thinking that.

Every human life was invaluable and even a broken leg should not stop one from having a chance. This broken leg was about to stop four, however, and she couldn't help but to think about that as she glanced back to the aliens well beyond her now.

While she waited impatiently for Lewis and Carlos to drag the injured man along with them a shockwave rattled the ground below her feet.

The force of the quake was so powerful it sent everyone flying through the air and crashing to the ground. Cassandra hit the ground with a certain thud and the alien weapon she had clattered out of her grip.

She pulled herself up, grabbing the weapon as she tried to stand. She noticed the apartment building in front of her was cracking clean up the middle. The street fractured and the ripple of the shock caused windows to fall out all around her.

Suddenly, the tall office building that must have been directly over the queen's chamber exploded into a giant burst of flames.

The flames engulfed the buildings around it and the earthquake rattled loose all the structures along the streets for several blocks.

Cassandra howled to Lewis and Carlos amidst the shower of falling stone and pouring glass and the two picked up their pace, dragging the man along with them hurriedly. They bolted down the street, cautiously avoiding the separating road and falling buildings around them.

They ran as far and as fast as they could, powered by the adrenaline surging through their veins. They sprinted with racehorse strides away from the flaming core of the explosion as the buildings around them rattled loose and fell to the street.

Lewis shouted to Cassandra to motivate her to keep moving and not look back, but she let her eyes fall back behind her despite his warning.

She took a deep breath and turned immediately around, igniting another burst of speed, desperate to outrun the flames that were quickly chasing behind them.

With wide eyes and an uncontrollably pounding heart, Cassandra bolted away from the explosion with all of her might. Lewis and Carlos kept pace with her, dragging an unconscious man along with them.

They caught up to the other people and the alien group many blocks away as she had begun to grow weary from the escape and her speed dwindled. The three continued to press on for several more blocks, getting themselves well clear of the massive cloud of dust, smoke, and cinder debris that engulfed the rest of the city streets.

Finding it difficult to breath, Cassandra began a fit of coughing and fell to the ground for a moment before she was able to pull herself up. She noticed out of the corner of her eye that the aliens well ahead of her had slowed their pace and appeared to be looking back to survey the damage and possibly the human survivors.

As Lewis approached, Cassandra jumped back to her feet and found the ability to escape another three blocks before collapsing to an exasperated stop.

Struggling for breath himself, Carlos sat on the ground next to her, while Lewis forced himself to stay on his feet as he fought to breathe. The man Carlos and Lewis dragged with them was unconscious and as Carlos evaluated him, his sobbing sister bound over to him, looking to Carlos for an update.

"He's alive, we just have to get that leg set." Carlos said between rugged breaths.

"Holy shit," someone gasped from nearby. "You're all crazy. These bastards blowing everything up, and you guys go right into a hive to follow them!"

Cassandra tilted her head back and glanced towards the path of destruction. She took a deep, ragged breath, relieved that they had managed to outrun the explosion.

She watched the thick smoke cloud rise up above the buildings and trial towards the dark sky above. Her eyes panned the skyline that she could see, searching for the lights of the alien vessels she knew still floated above.

She could not see the lights of any of the alien vessels in the night sky and as she let her eyes sink back down to the ground, she spotted the alien group, halted a block away.

The shouting man continued his outburst which quickly spurred a brief fight as the aliens looked on. Cassandra pulled herself wearily to her feet and stalked away from the fighting men who were shouting about destruction, poor decisions, heading off on their own, and finding a place to camp and recoup from the battles.

"All right! All right!" Lewis yelled angrily and shot his gun into the air to get the attention of the brawling group.

Cassandra stared at Lewis as he stared at the shocked and silent men.

Lewis tipped his head and looked towards the alien group, as though considering them too in whatever decision making process he was thinking inside his mind. The warrior group looked equally exhausted and overwhelmed as the tiny cluster of humans.

For a moment no one made any sound or movement. It seemed as though each person was succumbing to the burden of what had just taken place.

Cassandra sighed deeply as she stared at the injured, lost looking group of men and aliens that lined the block. She felt her eyes grow suddenly watery.

She could not recall the last time she cried at all, but as she stared at the horrified faces of the people that huddled together in the quiet street, she felt ready to collapse and sob on the spot.

Everyone on the street, human or otherwise, was laced with injuries. As Cassandra surveyed the scene, she could see bleeding wounds and shaking, exhausted bodies.

She only now realized fully what injuries her own body had suffered. As she stroked her wounds gently tears ran down her face. She swallowed and glanced towards the alien group as they slowly began to move.

The remainder of the human company looked down the street towards the aliens, each watching with fear in anticipation of what might happen next.

For the first time since the creatures had landed on Earth, the alien group that they had been clung to from the start was walking towards the remaining humans. The bloody people in the street stared at the nine injured warriors as they slowly approached.

Cassandra could sense that no one around her was certain why the alien warriors were heading towards the humans. She found herself briefly considering multiple scenarios, the top of which was that the aliens were planning on heading back into the hive they had all just left.

She swallowed, hoping that this would not be the case. She glanced back down the street, just to reassure herself that there was no hive left to return to.

The warrior aliens stopped behind their leader, just a few feet from the human group. Lewis stared at the grey skinned alien leader.

His helmet removed, the leader stared at Lewis, Cassandra, and the others through his deep set golden eyes and ticked his long toothed outer mandibles together. Cassandra eyed the leader curiously.

His arm was glowing green with fluorescent blood still oozing from a large gash. Likewise, the leader's thigh and abdomen were cut and sliced. The others in his group had similar injuries, some far more severe.

To Cassandra, the alien group looked equally as defeated as the small group of humans felt. She wondered if the battle was more than they could have imagined.

She wondered if they had come to say 'goodbye'.

The glance only lasted a moment, before the leader spun around and stalked away, leaving a confused squadron of humans in his midst as the other warriors followed off behind their leader.

"What, are they leavin'?" Someone quickly asked with almost a panicked whisper.

"I don't know," Lewis said with a frown.

"They can't leave..." Another whispered through a shaky voice.

"They can do whatever they want," Lewis whispered grittily.

The humans watched the backs of the alien warriors stalk away down the street, each briefly discussing amongst themselves their thoughts over the aliens and options of what to do next.

"We should keep following them," Cassandra whispered forcefully over the murmured debate from the group.

"Yes, cause that's been working out really well so far." Someone snapped.

"We should stay with them," she repeated, determined.

Without another word, Cassandra started off tailing the alien group. In a moment, the others followed silently, though they could not come up with a solid reason for continuing the unusual alliance.

Everyone was injured and none stood a chance without the others around. The aliens had rounded a street corner and strode out of site, but finding what little remnants of energy they had, each person managed to break into a jog and follow after their alien companions.

It did not take long before they had caught up to the tail end of the alien group. They were moving much slower than Cassandra had ever seen before and they were leaving a trail of bright green blood with every step.

The alien group did not seem surprised that the humans had found them. The leader glanced to the small human party with a quick look that made Cassandra halfway wonder if he the way he had approached them was something of an invitation to follow, or a sign of respect.

She couldn't be sure, but it did seem as though the alien leader briefly acknowledged the group, almost like he was checking on them to make sure they were still coming along.

The aliens scanned each building they passed by, as did the humans. Their nerves were still tense and their senses were all on high alert.

Regardless of how well destroyed, there was still a hive not far away, and that could easily mean there would be roaming drone stragglers ready to attack at any given moment.

Warily, the groups walked through vacant street after vacant street. So closely together they tracked, it would be hard to consider from an outside glance, where the invisible line between the aliens and the humans was drawn.

Despite their wounds, neither species stopped for rest. They continued to walk, determined to get clear of the city, away from the threat of the hive. It took much longer than it should have, but eventually, the edge of the city was in sight.

Just at the other end of the block Cassandra was starting into, she could see a small stretch of grass lined roadway that led away from the town.

She felt a rush of relief at the distance she had put between herself and the remnants of the drone hive. The thoughts of all that had happened throughout the night rushed into and out of her mind and as she thought back to it all, she could hardly believe anyone had managed to survive.

She eyed the leader of the alien group once again. Even though there had been much loss, and many injuries, Cassandra could not help but feel that none would have survived without the group's leader directing the way.

She stared intently at his back as he walked, silently watching his gray hair sway as he strode forward. Suddenly he stopped and the group behind him halted in an instant.

The leader turned his head to the side as did his troops. Cassandra and the others held their breath and stared off the same direction, anxiously and nervously anticipating what they could not see to attack them.

The leader held deathly still for a moment. His wrist blades were bared and he looked perched, ready to pounce on whatever it was his alien eyes were spying.

It seemed that not even his troops saw the threat. Each of his group would look from their leader to building they stopped next to and back again, as though uncertain what the leader was seeing.

Cassandra stared through the shattered display window of the building as though she might see what the leader eyed before anyone else did. In the darkness of the room beyond the broken glass, there was nothing, but the leader still held his ground.

Lewis and Cassandra exchanged glances and a shaking survivor walked past them towards the window.

"What is it?" He whispered as he crept closer to the broken glass remnants.

Lewis reached forward to grab the man's shoulder to stop him before he got too close, but it was already apparent in that moment what the leader had been eyeing.

A quick flash of something moving leapt out of the window and the aliens sprung into action once more.

Each of the human group scattered and pointed their weapons into a ready position as they tried to focus back on what was happening. One alien howled and roared and Cassandra heard a distinct sound of crunching bug body as she spun around.

Two of the alien drones were freshly dead on the ground at the leader's feet. He swelled with rage as he spun around scanning for more enemies.

The attack had happened so quickly it seemed not even he was able to follow all of the action. Two more of his troops were laying flat out on the ground, faces hidden behind the sickly spindly legs of the slimy embryo implanting face hugger creatures.

Cassandra looked round and noticed that two of her own group littered the street with the same creatures securely suctioned to their heads.

As quickly as it had begun, the battle was over. The last of the straggler drones were dead and the only face huggers that seemed to be near were secured to their victims.

Cassandra glanced at the two downed men and the two aliens and eyed the leader once more. He growled ferociously as his wrist blades sheathed themselves inside his right arm gauntlet and he pulled out his spear from its mount on his back.

The others in his group remained silent as they watched him step towards their fallen comrades.

Without a moment of reprieve or mourning, with no uttering of any sort of prayer or passage, the leader smashed the bladed tip of his extended spear through the face hugger creature on the first of his fallen warrior's head.

Both hatchling creature and alien skull crunched and cracked under the brutal force of the spear head. The leader pulled the blood covered spear out of the firsts' skull, and still sizzling with acid blood, the blade was quickly embedded into the skull of the next former troop.

He growled deeply as he took a heavy stride towards the first of the two men on the ground.

"No!" Lewis snapped quickly, fearlessly stepping in front of the approaching leader and holding his palms out.

He took a slow, deep breath as he turned his head towards the two men on the ground before glancing back to the leader.

"No. They're my humans to deal with."

The leader, either understanding the words or the meaning of what Lewis had spoken, pressed a button on his spear as he turned away. The spear folded itself back into its own handle and he placed the compacted weapon back into its holder on his back pack as he stalked off slowly.

Lewis rounded on the two bodies at his feet. He swallowed and lowered his head as he raised his gun.

"My God, help us all," he whispered before he pulled the trigger.

Solemn and quiet, the two groups continued off together with only their thoughts to comfort them as they migrated.

Cassandra, though, found no comfort from her thoughts.

They were a heavy burden that were quickly weighing her down as she moved and with the injuries on her arm and leg unable to have a moment to rest or be tended to, she was growing ever weaker from the loss of blood.

Still, she continued to walk with her group, tailing just behind the five remaining warriors. They too were slowing in their gait. Perhaps it was the burden of their losses slowing them down, Cassandra wondered. Most likely, she thought, is was their loss of blood and their desire to rest and recuperate that was forcing them to move slower.

She eyed the leader carefully from her position behind him. He seemed to be aging as he slowed his walk. Still, he seemed determined not to stop. Now limping on his injured leg, he pressed on with no sound to reveal his pain.

Behind him, though, the ever-weakening human group was beginning to moan and grimace, complaining of their exhaustion and loss of blood and desire for rest.

Cassandra did not know whether it was the human group's vocalizations of their malcontent, or it was his own pain and suffering that finally brought the leader to a halt, but at any rate, and much to her own relief, the leader stopped.

He examined the outside of a building that he stood near carefully before deciding that it was a suitable resting spot. His troops followed him through a broken doorway and the small human cluster followed promptly.

Cassandra glanced around at the strip mall they were about to enter. She felt her body shiver warily as she headed indoors.

While the store they entered might serve as the perfect camping ground, with walls and roof overhead, access to an array of clothing, grooming supplies, perhaps food, and at least some first aid supplies, it was also a good size building for a bug colony to start a small hive in.

With a deep breath, she stepped through the doorway. She could feel her heart picking up its pace as she stepped over the threshold.

Halfway expecting a surge of drones to pounce on her, Cassandra was taken aback by the odd glow that she could see coming from the far end of the hallway.

The warriors clicked and rattled to one another quickly as they entered the large store, and separated from the little human cluster in a few moments, apparently oblivious or uncaring about the dull light at the other end of the store.

They instead, headed towards the back of the building and disappeared into the stock room beyond the double swinging doors, well out of sight of the human group.

"Are they with you?" A voice rang out in the darkness.

Startled, the group jumped to a halt and glanced about. Peering through the darkness into the hazy light, Cassandra's eyes adjusted.

She could see the outlines of several people and as her eyes soaked in the light, from several flashlights strapped to decorative planted trees around a small camp area in one corner of the building, she counted three men and two women, all obviously well equipped, staring past the new arrivals towards the spot where the aliens had disappeared towards the back of the store.

"I guess you could say that," Lewis answered with the best possible answer for that particular question.

"Ok then," a man said as he stepped forward, lowering his weapon slightly and reaching a rough, dirty half-gloved hand out to shake Lewis's hand.

"John. Welcome to the party. You guys look terrible. Want some soup?"

Cassandra shifted around to glance at John and his group. They seemed terrible too, she thought, each one obviously having been injured at some point, but she was certain she looked far worse.

"That looks bad," John stated obviously, indicating her thigh with the tip of his gun.

"Really? I hadn't noticed," Cassandra snapped unimpressed

"Right, well let's get you all taken care of," John smiled and turned towards the rest of the group.

They made their way over to the small camp and as soup was passed around and introductions were made, wounds were tended to.

Cassandra listened quietly as most of the group told tales of their struggles and their encounters with the bugs and the aliens that hunted them. Once again all were drawn into a debate over why the aliens had even showed up on the planet.

Cassandra could not imagine why they were here, but she, like several others in the new group, were at least grateful they were.

John did seem to be one of those, although he grunted his thoughts about the aliens and somehow managed to place the blame for all mankind's suffering on the 'fuck faced creatures' as he called them.

Her eyes flickered towards the back of the building where the warriors had disappeared. She could not see them, nor hear them.

If the aliens were even still in the building, they were completely silent. She could not hear the slightest hint of sound from the small alien party as she kept her eyes focused towards the back.

Lewis prodded her gently and waved his hand in front of her eyes, smiling at her as he finally got her attention back.

"You ok? How's that leg?"

"I'm fine," Cassandra responded with a slight smile.

She turned back to face Lewis as he gently placed his hand on her injured thigh and inspected her wound. Eventually, she and the others fell asleep.

When Cassandra finally awoke, almost an entire day had passed. She felt slightly more refreshed as she pulled herself upright and stretched her arms out wide. Carlos was almost immediately tending to her injuries the second she woke up.

"I need to change your bandages, but you looked so peaceful, I didn't want to wake you." He said softly as he began to change the wrap over her arm.

"Thanks, I appreciate that."

"How do you feel?" Lewis asked as he came over.

"I feel like I slept on a floor for a whole day."

"You did." He smiled. "Hungry?"

Her eyes nearly lit up. Lewis had in his hand something she had only halfway remembered the look and taste of. It was true food. Surviving on non-perishables and granola bars for so long made the sandwich in Lewis' hand look like a massive hoagie.

Cassandra shot him a curious look, as though she was dreaming and the food would suddenly vanish. He explained that the group had found a rather large supply of nutritional health foods that were vacuum sealed and dehydrated.

Cassandra happily sunk her teeth in the white meat chicken sandwich. The sandwich disappeared all too quickly, but it had tasted so good Cassandra did at least savor every bite and the taste lingered in her mouth.

With her belly full and her wounds cleaned and bandaged, she took to talking with the new group for quite a while.

As Cassandra chatted amongst the women in the small group, she listened to their tales of survival. Cassandra thought they were all strong and brave, and they thought the same about her, although she did not feel such words were justified for her.

As evening fell, Lewis found Cassandra off by herself towards the back of the building. She had gone through the stock room looking for the alien hunters, but she did not see them.

She stuck her head out of the back door near the loading dock and scanned the parking area behind the building but saw nothing.

"You shouldn't be wandering off," A voice from behind told her.

She jumped around and faced John, staring at her as though she was a piece of juicy meat. She immediately retracted from him, out of arms' reach.

"I'm fine. I needed some privacy," she said firmly. "I'll be back out in a bit."

John smiled charmingly. Cassandra couldn't tell if he was being friendly or creepy, but either way, she did not want him around her.

"Well, it isn't safe to be off on your own. Come back to the group soon. We'll keep you safe little girl."

She locked her jaws. Her nostrils flared a bit as a flash of anger welled up inside her at his words.

He smiled and walked away and Cassandra turned back to the open door and scanned the parking lot once again, muttering to herself under her breath.

When she decided that the aliens were simply not within her sight, she turned around and scanned the strewn empty boxes all around her.

She perused through the boxes looking for any scraps of useful supplies that might remain. She walked down a short hallway, into a break room and searched the already well turned-up cabinets for any food that might have been missed, headed back out of the break room and continued down the corridor to another stock room.

She scanned over the shelves and quietly looked around, listening for anyone nearby and looking for anything or anyone.

When she was sure the room was clear, she entered and continued searching through boxes.

She opened one box that contained fresh clothes just her size and quickly glanced around to make sure no one was near as she removed her pants and shirts.

She took a moment to clean her body with one t-shirt and a small amount of bottled water. As she quietly rubbed her skin clean, she breathed deeply. It was the closest thing to a shower she could expect anymore, but the room temperature water still felt wonderful against her skin as she rubbed her body and legs clean.

She pulled on a new pair of jeans and zipped the zipper. She strapped on her bra and suddenly her attention was turned towards the corner of the room. She wasn't even sure she heard anything, but she thought there was a vague soft ticking sound.

She held her breath and listened closely, peering around the boxes haphazardly strewn into the corner of the room.

She could feel her nerves tingle her body and her heart began to pound, but as she released her breath slowly, she tried to convince herself quickly that there was nothing and no one about.

She slowly shook her head and turned her shoulders, eyeing the ground for the shirts she was about to put on when a flicker of blue lightening startled her.

Jumping back wildly, Cassandra gasped audibly and toppled flat on her back, against the strewn boxes as she looked up in shocked wild fear. Her eyes locked on the alien barely an arm's length in front her.

He stood there staring at her, the grey skinned warrior leader. He was tall and mighty, ferocious and powerful. He had his head tipped slightly and his four mandibles flared threateningly as he glared at her with his burning golden eyes. His bladed spear was clutched tightly in his hand, pointed directly towards Cassandra as he gurgled a definite growl at her.

He shifted his footing and raised his spear higher as he simultaneously lunged for her. Cassandra swallowed and raised her arms around her head, helpless at the giant warrior's feet.

She eyed him through her arms and watched him heave his spear forward as he leaned closer to her.

In that moment, she regretted pressing herself into the aliens' personal space. Though she did not believe that the alien warriors were interested in killing humans that had not been infected with the breeding bug embryo, she was certain the leader was about to kill her.

In the space of a fraction of a second, her heart jumped so fully into her throat that she could barely breathe or move or even think to defend herself.

She was half naked and her weapon was not even within reach and the leader, who had apparently silently stalked her, moved far too quickly and powerfully.

She could not produce a sound, not even a squeal or hint of a yelp of fright as the leader grabbed her up with one hand and released his spear with a hard slam at the same time.

The leader had yanked Cassandra off the floor with tremendous force. He grabbed her arm as she cowered at his feet, and pulled her up and lobbed her behind him.

He growled as he pulled her around him so quickly she felt like she could get whiplash from the sudden movement. She lost her balance again and slammed to the ground behind the leader.

She heard the blade of the weapon slam down hard, striking into the floor somewhere between the boxes in the opposite corner. She heard a familiar crunch that she knew all too well as the sound of crushing bone, followed immediately by a stench and sizzle that was an all too familiar experience.

Cassandra fought to get her breathing under control and pressed her hands on her chest as though to manually force her heart back under her ribs as she looked around and tried to process what had just happened.

Growling, the leader reached towards his weapon and retrieved it, shaking some boxes loose in the process.

Cassandra's eyes drifted towards the spear and followed the shaft down to its contact point. Her jaw dropped as she saw a punctured corpse of a face hugger sizzling away, its acid blood melting the floor under it.

With wide, grateful, but still slightly panicked eyes, Cassandra watched the leader as he pulled the weapon loose from its kill.

He pressed a panel on the weapon and it slid back into its storage state before he placed it back in its holder on his back and whipped around to face her, mandibles pressed tightly closed, but he was still growling softly.

Cassandra felt her eyes follow the leader's every movement. She could smell the musk of his body as he watched her. Time seemed to freeze as she crouched at his feet, shaking with surprise. Without a word or further sound, the leader stalked away.

Still trying to control her heart, Cassandra watched him turn to leave. Without further rational thought, Cassandra reacted. She jumped to her feet and reached towards the leader, grabbing his arm firmly, just above his elbow on his left arm.

"Wait, please." She said softly to him.

He turned sharply onto her and Cassandra gasped. She leaned slightly away but she did not release her grip on his arm.

She held her breath and fell into silence as the leader eyed her while she stared up at him. He did not move and for an entirely too long and awkward moment, neither did Cassandra.

Cassandra tried to find words, but couldn't.

She stared at the leader in silence for a moment longer before he gurgled a raspy sound and reached for her hand with his other palm. Instead of ripping his arm free of her grip, which he could easily have done, as her small hand barely reached halfway around the bottom of his bicep, he pried her hand free delicately with his other hand.

The action was so surprising, it snapped Cassandra back into the moment and before the leader could turn away one more time, she finally spoke.

"Please. What… what are you? Why are you here? Do you have a name?"

The leader did not seem interested in having a conversation. He glanced at her considerately but turned and stalked away.

Without hesitation, Casandra followed him, trying again to get a response from him. He headed directly for the rear exit door and Cassandra noticed how the leader glanced around his surroundings readily as he entered the main stock room before he proceeded out the back door.

"I know you have a name. I know you can speak. I'm Cassandra. Please, what is your name?"

She continued to try as the giant alien, easily two feet taller than she that probably weighed three times as much, continued coolly out the rear door into the sunshine of the spring afternoon.

He glanced to her one more time, stretching his upper mandibles slightly apart as he eyed her and pulled his helmet free from its secured position on his back armor.

If Cassandra had to guess, she immediately got the impression that he was smiling at her.

If he was amused by her persistence or offering little more than an annoyed grin, she could not be sure, but she definitely had the distinct impression that she was making headway with him.

"R'chnt." The alien grumbled with his deep, resonating voice.

"What?" Cassandra whispered in surprise.

"Cassy?" A voice called from inside the building suddenly, distracting her. She jumped around and glanced into the building.

Lewis stared at her warily, gun clenched tight in his grip as he eyed the room around him.

"What's going on? Are you all right?"

"Yea, I'm fine…" she muttered, half in shock. She glanced back to where the leader had been, but he was gone. She eyed around the area and checked the wall of the building, but she could not see him.

"Cassy? What's…. where's your shirt?"

"Oh! Oh…" Cassandra stammered as she glanced down, only now realizing she was still not fully dressed. She pulled herself together and brushed past Lewis as she headed back into the stock room to grab her clothes.

"Nothing. It's fine. Everything's fine." She assured Lewis.

She quickly put her clothes on and grabbed up her belongings before returning to the rest of the human group with Lewis, her thoughts running wild about what had just transpired.

She tried to slow her heart and her mind down for the entire rest of the afternoon. She took to her guard shift and used most of it to search less for more bugs and more for the hunters and R'chnt.

She did not readily see them, but a few noises and flickers of light did tell her where they had made camp as evening set in.

As she had been doing for weeks, Cassandra slipped away from the rest of her group unnoticed sometime in the middle of the night. She made her way slowly, cautiously towards the group of alien hunters, quietly glancing about to see if she had been noticed by any humans as well as any of the aliens.

She did not see anyone of either species as she rounded a corner of a building and disappeared from visual range of the human group completely, slowly headed towards a park a few blocks away where the alien group made camp.

The alien warriors came into view, a few resting near a hazy blueish white fire, while several others were just barely visible through the distance and cloak of night, obviously keeping watch on their surroundings.

Cassandra allowed herself for a fraction of a second to absorb just how much alike the two species appeared to be.

Both groups had a hierarchy, although humans by nature were more open to a democratic arrangement, whereas there was no question who the alien's leader was and at no point did he ever seem open to _suggestion_.

Both groups split their forces, some keeping alert guard while others rested. Perhaps both were vaguely curious about the other, although neither party seemed too keen on approaching that subject, except for herself, she imagined.

She glanced around looking R'chnt. She had to find him.

She wanted to know more about him, she wanted answers. She was not sure if her questions would get answered, her curiosity get fulfilled, or she would get herself killed for pushing the limits of his tolerance too far, but she needed to know in any case.

He had saved her life and stalked away like nothing had happened. His display proved one thing that she had been certain of since the first time she saw the alien arrivals.

Her mind skipped ahead faster than she could follow her own thoughts.

She was certain now beyond any shadow of a doubt that the alien warriors were not there to kill humans that had not been infected. They were there solely to stop the spread of the bugs. She had never been able to figure exactly why the aliens suddenly showed up.

No one knew exactly, but everyone had theories.

The most commonly accepted theory was not that the alien warriors were just intergalactic doo-gooders, but instead, that they were responsible somehow for the infestation and were paying up.

She could not perceive how that theory could be true, but it seemed like there was no other explanation for their presence, unless they had simply decided to come to Earth to have a little _fun._

She shook her head, pushing away that thought, too. The warriors, including R'chnt, were getting injured, torn up, and fighting endlessly in battles. They had lost their own, and she could not possibly imagine how anyone would think it would be fun.

She glanced around the rest of the alien group and did not see R'chnt. She tiptoed warily around their camp, circling part of the perimeter in perhaps the smallest distance she had yet dared to approach the aliens.

She did not him, but she heard a clicking sound from somewhere above her head. Cassandra looked up and thought she saw ripples in the black night against the building to her right. The ripples were moving; a clicking filled her ears.

She realized in a moment, that she was looking at the cloaked body of a warrior through a ripped off doorway to the fire escape from the third floor of the building.

She started up the stairs, after the cloaked alien. She did not even know which alien it was that she had spotted, or if she had been seen either. She climbed the fire escape and poked her head through the door, holding her breath while she looked around.

She saw and heard nothing, so she tiptoed forward, through one room of the old, brick office complex, and peered through one more door that was jarred awkwardly open.

She spotted the leader.

He was sitting in a hollowed out hole in the exterior wall of a back room that was piled high with file boxes. The leader had his back turned to the door and if he did hear or notice that Cassandra had entered the room, he did not respond.

She swallowed softly and pushed the door open cautiously, eyeing the back of the leader's head warily. She took a ragged breath and kept her eyes locked on the alien's back, noticing his long gray locks and gold and shimmering adornments in them, the metal armor on his back, a sealed over injury on his lower right side, and the intricate details carved into the three leather belts he wore.

She slipped into the room and held still and quiet behind a pile of boxes, watching the alien commander stare out into the rainy night.

For a moment, no one moved. Cassandra held her ground and the leader of the alien warrior party did not seem to even notice her presence.

She finally put a foot forward and approached the leader. He turned his head just enough to watch her out of the corner of his eye.

She took a deep breath and paused again, uncertain of what the massive, muscular alien might do next.

He spread the top two mandibles on his jaw apart, pressed them back together, and turned his head back towards the darkness outside the hole, making a soft clicking sound.

Cassandra was not sure of the implication of his reaction, but she walked towards him several more feet with slightly more confidence.

"Hi there..." she muttered softly.

"Ummm…oh boy. I uh…." She stammered…

"I'm Cassy. You can call me Cassy."

Suddenly all the questions she had raging inside her, everything she desired to know, each sentence she had preplanned of exactly how the following conversation would go dissolved away and she could no longer find words.

She stared at the profile the maskless alien and watched him with wide, curious, and frightened eyes, but she could not think of anything else to say to him. He did not respond to her, he did not even glance at her upon hearing her speak.

She pursed her lips and tried hard to think of something else to say. Slowly, she began to consider something else that until now had not crossed her mind.

The alien probably did not understand her.

The odd throaty noises she had heard him make, which she figured must have been his language, were so far from intelligible they were almost indistinguishable from that of a human trying to clear his throat. To him however, and to those that he commanded, the leader's odd noises were totally understandable.

Whatever limited communication the humans had with the aliens and their leader was mostly consistent of body language and hand signals.

The closest thing to a language he warriors had shared with the humans consisted of sharp, unquestionable, warning growls if they got too close. Cassandra found herself wondering if her words to him sounded equally as strange as his alien language did to her.

She sighed and crouched down, barely a half dozen feet from the sitting alien.

"Do you understand me?" She asked of him in a quiet voice.

He glanced at her this time, but the look he gave her appeared to be of more annoyance than understanding. Still, the alien said and did nothing.

"I just..." Cassandra started. "I just want to know who you are. Why are you here?"

She continued on, talking as if she was with an old friend.

"There's been so much changed on this planet, you know. It wasn't always like this. There's people out there right now who think this is all your fault. I don't know what to believe.

I don't understand why you are here. We... humans...we never _really_ knew if life out there existed, but now we know it does, and the timing of it all is just one more hit to mankind, right? Well, I for one am glad for it.

I don't know who you are or why you're here, but I am glad. You saved my life... I'm glad you did. Thank you. I didn't have the chance to thank you earlier… for that."

She paused and pressed her lips together. She glanced out of the hole in the wall that the alien still stared through.

Beyond the gentle falling rain drops, she could see the glow of distant alien ships hovering far above the planet, safely away from the infestation.

She watched the fuzzy outlines of the vessels float motionlessly in the sky before she glanced back to the alien leader. His head had turned and he seemed to be watching her, perhaps curiously this time, Cassandra thought.

He extended his hand and reached for the rifle that was slung over her shoulder. Cassandra felt her heart skip several beats.

She held her breath and tried not to shiver as the alien's giant palm reached for her weapon. He clutched the shaft of the gun and pulled it gently towards himself. Cassandra allowed the strap to unravel itself from her shoulder, eyes locked on the alien.

He glanced at the weapon, inspecting it, it appeared. He pointed it out to the outside, looked along the shaft and considered the weapon for a moment. She was certain, _certain_ she saw him shake his head softly as though he did not approve of the weapon.

He paused for a moment and he thrust the weapon back to her and reached his other hand off to his side. He turned to her and offered her his own alien handheld caster weapon.

She frowned, then smiled and reached her hand forward to take the weapon. She did not understand the alien, or the technology behind the weapon he gave her, but she was grateful for the gift. With a wide smile and definite disbelief, she thanked him.

The aliens' weapons were far more powerful than anything mankind had produced. The sleek, slightly football shaped weapon was almost perfectly tailored to killing the bug drones.

Cassandra eyed the weapon thoughtfully. R'chnt quietly watched her handle the weapon and somehow she felt her grace with the weapon was being judged.

She fumbled with the alien rifle clumsily as she shifted in her grip until it settled into her lap.

Her eyes drifted away from the weapon and back towards the leader of the alien pack. She watched him watch her for a moment before her eyes dropped down, tracing his body.

The large wound on his ribcage that he had received during the battle several days earlier, which she had thought was healed, did not looked as well healed as she had once thought from a close up view.

The deep scratches in the leader's gray skin were clearly visible. The injuries were bubbled up over the top of his skin, and had turned a dark, smoky grey color. It looked almost as though some sort of molten material had been poured into his wounds to seal them, rather than allow them to heal on their own.

She scanned down to the alien's thigh, which had also been badly wounded during battle. Those injuries appeared to have been cauterized in the same fashion.

Suddenly, she felt her own injuries ache as she looked at the scars and ancient wounds on the leader's body. Her eyes scanned silently across the alien's body, from one thigh to the other and back up to his chest where something caught her attention.

The armor he wore over his shoulders did not cover his entire chest. Rather it left most of muscular body exposed to enemy attack, or curious eyes.

Draped over the armor, and around the leader's neck were several decorative necklaces of varying lengths. In the center of one of the chains, Cassandra saw a very familiar looking and most unusual pendant.

It was a dog tag, Cassandra was certain of it. Lewis wore them as well. She glanced at it and frowned curiously at the leader, and without thinking she reached forward and grasped the worn looking tag. The leader growled at her as she pulled near, and shaken, Cassandra released her grip on the leader's necklace and retreated.

"What is going on? What are you?" She asked, staring the alien directly in the eye.

"Please, I think you know a lot more than you want to share. That's very old," she said eyeing the dog tag, which she could tell was not collected in the recent weeks.

"You've been here before?"

Silence was her response, but the alien did reach towards the weapon he had just given her. Her first reaction was to pull the powerful weapon closer to her, but she stopped quickly as the leader placed his palm on the rifle in her lap.

Slowly, he pulled himself off the floor and began to rise. Cassandra stayed crouched where she was and watched the leader with a frown. A moment before he released his touch on the weapon he had given her, he spoke and Cassandra nearly toppled over with shock.

"You will live," he said simply, clearly, and unquestionable in almost perfect English.

Her jaw dropped and she gaped at him as he stood, turned, and started out the door. Slowly she rose to her feet and kept her eyes locked on his retreating body.

"Wait," she called in a hushed whisper.

The leader stopped, spun halfway to her and watched her as he gently caressed the pendants that dangled around his neck. Cassandra glanced at the weapon and tipped her head to the leader.

She wanted to say more, but there was nothing else that could come to her mind, so she remained awkwardly silent. The leader nodded delicately to her, raised his chin again and disappeared outside the door.

Cassandra looked back down at the weapon in her arms and turned to stare out of the gaping hole in the wall once more. She tucked the alien rifle inconspicuously behind her shirt and eyed the alien vessels again and watched the rain drizzle down well into the morning light.

Lewis appeared in the doorway just as the sky had turned a wide range of orange hues. The lights from the alien vessels disappeared against the early morning sun that filled the red sky.

Rain still drizzled down and Cassandra could see the alien troops gathering around their leader. She watched them prepare to head out to continue their extermination process.

There was a part of her that wanted to join the alien pack once more, but another part of her was so tired from their ordeals that it simply wanted to curl up in a warm dark place and not come out until the alien warriors had finished what they started.

Cassandra wondered for a moment as Lewis approached her, what exactly it was that the aliens had started.

She decided then, that when he returned once more, she would find the leader and ask him of it. She knew he could speak English. She knew he had been to Earth before. She knew he understood her. She had to know what else he knew.

"Are you OK?" Lewis asked as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

She halfway turned to him, but kept her eye on the alien group that was roused and ready for battle. His eyes drifted up to follow hers and the two watched quietly the alien group until they headed out of site.

"Cassy, don't disappear like that. No one knew where you were all night. Are you crazy? Come on. Let's get back to the group."

Cassandra said very little as her mind drifted through an array of thoughts about all that had taken place up through the last night. Lewis talked to her, but his words flitted through her mind in a haze and she did not hear him until he jabbed her on the shoulder to get her attention once more.

Three days later, the alien hunting party returned and when Cassandra overheard someone else call out that they were back, she found herself lighting up with happiness. Smiling widely and curiously, she waited merely minutes after the hunters were confirmed back before she crept away to find R'chnt again.

She found the weary and ragged looking alien party limping their way back to their holdout. Seven hunters had left with R'chnt, but now, twelve had returned. Obviously they had picked up a few stragglers while they were out, Cassandra confirmed.

She did not try to hide her approach to the group this time. The aliens sat and hovered over their own wounds. Utilizing odd alien medical kits, they began to sear their gaping injuries closed.

Each of the fighters seemed tense and agitated but also worn and weary. She watched the aliens warily, but slowly and steadily stalked towards them, eyeing their many injuries as the group came to a rest to tend to their wounds, drink, and eat before her eyes set on R'chnt.

His abdomen was shredded again. Cassandra noticed that R'chnt's ridged head was bleeding and missing a chunk of skin and tissue. The helmet he cradled in his arm was cracked in half. He glanced at it for a moment and tossed it to the ground. The force of his angry throw split the thing into two pieces.

" _R'chnt-de na'tu di-oomandi h'ptu."_ One warrior a few dozen feet away said as Cassandra approached and all heads turned in her direction, including R'chnt's.

Cassandra had no idea what was just said, but she definitely heard R'chnt's name and something that sounded quite a bit like the word _human_.

One of the newcomer warriors growled something in response and R'chnt raised a hand, clearly to quiet him.

"Ni'hep K'Shai." R'chnt said and it aroused a bit of a chuckle from a few of the familiar warriors.

She smiled and held her ground, curiously watching the wary alien warriors as R'chnt made his way to her. She could not help but feel as though the alien that had spoken had called her _his human_.

She wasn't sure what R'chnt's response meant, but Cassandra pursed her lips together in something of an embarrassed smile, definitely getting the idea that she was at the brunt of their jesting. She lowered her eyes as he approached her.

He rounded on her, and she held her ground.

R'chnt extended an arm out towards her and Cassandra followed his gesture, which obviously was indicating for her to walk with him. They headed off only a short distance away from both groups, in silence.

R'chnt sat on the ground some distance away and tended to his own injuries without a word, only pain filled groans as he sealed his own skin with a cauterizing substance that clearly caused pain probably equal to the injuries themselves.

Cassandra grimaced watching him heal his wounds. She did not know what to say or do, so she remained silent and crouched next to him to sit.

She glanced off in the distance and noticed a blazing orange glow of a fire burning far away. She pressed her lips together and swallowed, crouched next to the giant alien Leader, and as though invited to do so, she placed her hand on his shoulder.

She wondered for a moment if he could feel her body shaking through the armor he wore that her hand clasped.

The leader turned to her and stared at her quietly. She did not see the look in his eye that she had expected to. Then again, she thought, his eyes were so alien, she was not sure she could correctly interpret any look from them.

Still, she had expected to see sorrow, defeat, weakness, any other hint of emotion conveyed in those deep golden eyes that would tell her the answers to her questions without asking.

Instead, she saw anger, rage; something of a burning look in his eye that seemed to be fueled by a desire to completely eradicate the drones from the planet's surface.

Cassandra looked into his eyes and saw an entire history behind his deep amber irises. She found many answers there in that uncountable amount of time she stared at him.

She saw the hatred the Leader possessed for the bug drones and their sinister queens. She saw fury and the strength of his spirit and the fire in his heart, and perhaps a slight bit of remorse after all.

She caught that look in his eyes for a flicker of a moment as he shifted his focus across her body. She swallowed and pulled her hand off his shoulder. The truth was in his stare, and it absorbed into her on an empathic level she could not even describe to herself.

She lowered her eyes, glancing at the filled in wounds across the leader's abdomen quickly before staring at the floor between their two bodies.

She did not look at him, and she could perceive that his glare had been cast off towards the distant fire as well. She tried to find words; anything to say to him.

He was silent; her heart was racing.

She wondered for a moment if he could see, hear, or feel her heart pounding. The awkward silence was almost too much to bear.

He may possibly have been content to sit in silence staring at the fire burning in the distance, but Cassandra needed to talk to him, about anything; just to fill the void.

"So your name is R'chnt?" She questioned. He watched her but said nothing in return.

She repeated the name again with a slight head nod and smiled, confirming to herself that it was his name while he watched her curiously. She glanced towards him and smiled widely.

"That's a beautiful name. Beautiful, really. Easy to pronounce. " She smiled foolishly, "I was just expecting something...more difficult to say," she continued on, carrying on a one way conversation.

She lowered her eyes, smiling embarrassedly to herself.

"Something like M'de-h'tljke S'aryn ct'lk R'chnt?" He questioned smoothly.

Cassandra stared blankly at him, trying to discern if what he uttered was actually words at all, then smiled and giggled.

"Yea, something like that."

Clearing her throat, she began to stammer to try to find the words she was looking for.

"So, what exactly does K'Shai mean?"

He glanced to her and pulled his upper mandibles apart widely, exposing the two sharp teeth on his upper gum. He was smiling, she knew it, and although she did not know why or what was funny about her question, she still pursed her lips into a thin smile.

He pointed at her and called her K'Shai again.

"I see," she said, understanding that perhaps it was name for her. She liked the sound of it and repeated it with a pleased grin.

"Help me understand who you are," she whispered softly to him.


	24. Chapter 23

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 **Thank you so much for reading this story. I truly hope you have enjoyed the story thus far, and I hope you will find the following chapters equally as entertaining, exhilarating, and powerful. You may have noticed so far along in this story there has been very little foul language. I believe you can make a powerful, gory, and dramatic tale without a lot of needless language.**

 **However, this is an extremely mature story so consider this a final warning. This story is NC-17/MA for a reason. The following chapters involve EXPLICIT sexual content. I truly hope you find the rest of this story amazing and I look forward to hearing your reviews and thoughts.**

 **CHAPTER TWENTY THREE**

Time flew by.

Weeks melded into months as summer came and slowly began to drift away.

Cassandra had gotten her routine down to an art, silently slipping away whenever R'chnt and his hunters returned to camp, which not very often. The hunters could easily disappear for three, four, five days and when they returned to camp, sometimes they only stayed put for a day.

Every once in a while, R'chnt would allow his hunters two or three days to rest and recover, and she was well aware that some of the group would return to the hovering ships in orbit via shuttlecraft to a ship in order, for more supplies. Slowly, K'Shai extended the amount of time she spent with R'chnt, and learned a delicate ballet between being with him, and avoiding being missed by the human group.

She made no pretense to the hunters about slipping into their camp. In fact, she didn't have to slip at all. Curiosity had turned into tolerance and that tolerance had turned into acceptance, but it was slow to develop. She knew most of the hunters, the Yautja, looked at her as though she was a curiosity piece.

They had little more than a fleeting interest in a peculiar situation, but on the whole, whether or not they approved of their Leader's choice of company, no one questioned R'chnt or why he allowed Cassandra to walk amongst them.

The Yautja were mighty, strong, definitely hard headed, but they looked at the human among them with curious interest and even respect. She had not quite yet figured out what the Yautja name R'chnt dubbed her actually meant, but his calling her it was good enough for her, and she happily accepted the name, which the other Yautja accepted readily as well.

She tried to learn the Yautja language. R'chnt, she learned as the weeks went on, not only spoke English, but also German, Spanish, French, and at least three other Earth languages she had no idea what they were, but she had an idea, from listening to him talk about his experiences, that they were languages that had not been actively spoken on Earth in centuries.

R'chnt, she knew already just by looking at him, was an elder. What she did not know about him was much more than that. She learned pieces of him slowly over many weeks, and not always directly from him, but from the other hunters talking of him.

She struggled to learn his native language, fumbling with her words trying to form sentences as badly as she fumbled with hand to hand sparring as he had slowly begun to teach her. He was always aware of where his hands were striking, or how hard he might grab hold of her during a particular sparring movement.

He never gripped too tightly, he was cautious to never strike or push her; he knew she was fragile and could easily and seriously be injured with little effort on his part. Cassandra was grateful for the guidance, although she wished she would have magically proven to be a better sparrer than she was.

In all the months she had been surviving, she had always done so behind the trigger of a gun. She had no fighting skills, and it showed.

Sometimes she felt as though the short time they would spend together was more for Yautja entertainment value than anything else, but she tried, and over time, it became clear that the Yautja saw and respected that.

She picked up a word or two here and there by listening to the others speak, and whenever possible, R'chnt would take the time to sit with her and teach her. Those were the moments she enjoyed the most.

R'chnt would lead his hunting party out to destroy the bug drones, their queens, and their hives, and sometimes was gone for days. Her time with him was very limited, and while he was gone, she tried her best not to think of the possibility that he would never return.

When he would teach her his language, it was almost always alone, separated from the rest of his group, far out of sight of the human encampment as well. She would sit with him in the still of a peaceful morning, watching the sun come up and listening to him speak.

He knew the human languages well enough to have a capable conversation in any of them. Sometimes he got words wrong, but his ability to speak any of the Earth tongues was still far better than she, or anyone, realized. He simply chose not to speak the languages as a matter of pride.

It was useful to him to understand the words of his enemies; of his prey, but he was Yautja and that was the only language he preferred to speak. He would speak English words to her only to help her understand and repeat a word in his own language.

As her understanding of his language grew, she understood more than just a few words and would listen quietly as he talked about hunts of the past or why he preferred a particular weapon over another. R'chnt would even complain, like a grumpy old man, about the modern technology that the younger hunters enjoyed over taking the time to learn time honored practices with a fine blade.

She couldn't help but to smile as she realized that she and R'chnt; that humans and Yautja, had more in common than either species even realized or cared to admit.

While she knew they were the exception to the rule, it was clear that no Yautja had any interest in relations with humans and vice versa. The apprehension in both races was clear, and if the two parties shared the same section of a street or room of a building, it was a fleeting moment.

Cassandra heard the same glimpses of tension and mistrust between both races, from both sides while she forged a delicate relationship with R'chnt who was guided by a wisdom that had come from centuries of his own hunting experience, some of which included human prey.

When supplies ran low or conditions demanded it, the human party would move on from spot to spot.

In the beginning, Lewis, Cassandra, and the rest of the group were keen on following the hunters, playing on their own curiosity; they did not want to lose sight of the aliens that were killing the bugs. Eventually, the humans realized the alien warriors were not going anywhere; they always returned to a close proximity no matter how many days they were gone.

No one knew or understood why the hunters constantly returned, but each and every time someone announced that the warriors had returned and curious eyes cast in their direction, Cassandra smiled and made a silent exit. It had become routine, and every time she spent hours or even a full night with him, she learned more about his language and him.

R'chnt was full of experiences, wisdom, and a spirituality she would never have suspected, but he did not always talk about himself. Rather, she gleamed bits of information about him by what some of the others in his group would say during some of the more relaxed moments when they recouped, ate, and rested, often around a fire.

K'Shai learned over time that R'chnt was considered a bit eccentric.

It wasn't unusual, from what she gathered, that when a hunter had lived long enough and had been through enough life and death situations on enough different worlds against different and deadly prey, it would change the way they viewed their world and their spiritual beliefs.

It was a wisdom that wasn't necessarily understood by the younger generations, but it was respected. Lack of respect would imply a direct challenge of the Leader's authority, and only a fool would challenge someone like R'chnt for his position, K'Shai had figured out.

He was hard headed, for certain. He was set in his ways, adhering to traditional beliefs, but why he was respected was clear and obvious.

R'chnt commanded respect and oozed authority and dominance. When R'chnt spoke, all listened. There was no question, no argument.

As K'Shai began to learn more, she did come to understand the subtle differences between the ways of the elders and the ways of the younger generations. None were wrong, and all adhered to the common belief and strict codes of Honor that the Yautja valued.

It was easy for K'Shai to begin to understand the Yautja way more and more as the weeks ticked on. She had learned much about the people and about R'chnt himself and every time he and his group returned and her heart thundered to see him.

Sometimes, the alien group returned back looking so worn and weary that curious onlookers from the human group would comment and crane their necks to see a brief glimpse before the Yautja disappeared out of sight.

Sometimes, Cassandra would wake up in the morning to find out the hunters had returned at night while she was sleeping. Each and every time she could, she made a quiet and hasty exit and soon found her way back to the Yautja camp; back to R'chnt's side.

Through all that she learned; all that she had come to understand, she still had one burning question on her mind that she had decided the next time R'chnt returned, she would finally ask him.

"You there? Hey, Cassy?"

"Wha… oh, sorry Lewis, I was… uhh…"

Cassandra smiled awkwardly, not really sure how long Lewis had been waving his hand in front of her face or trying to grab her attention as she stared off her lookout point.

"Come on, you hungry? You look like you've got the universe on your mind."

She smiled at him through pursed lips. He did almost hit it exactly.

She hadn't even realized she had been so lost in thought.

It had been three days since R'chnt left, and she was not sure how long she was lost in her own mind contemplating pressing thoughts. She followed Lewis back off the lookout point and down to the main group.

They were mingling casually around a fire pit in the middle of the floor inside a large department store, sofas and chairs and bean bag seats all pulled around in a circle, with blankets sprawled around the floor, and shelving units all cleared away to create a massive open space.

If someone didn't know any better, it was easy to think of the sight as some kind of unusual camping trip. Canned foods were warmed up and the small group dined and chatted softly while someone started up strumming a guitar and others joined in.

In almost no time, the large store echoed out with harmonious voices. Cassandra listened with a distant gaze and gentle smile on her face.

Despite all the humans had been through, their spirit remained strong, and the music and singing led to a feeling of hope and optimism that she wasn't quite sure anyone had experienced in some time; it was long overdue.

Cassandra found herself singing quietly along after some time and only just barely noticed a shimmering flickering ripple distortion along the back wall, far beyond the human group. She paused for a moment and quickly excused herself from the group and Lewis.

The hunters were back and K'Shai wasted no time in rejoining R'chnt. She smiled widely as she eyed him and stalked off with him.

He had some minor injuries, but nothing that looked too deep or alarming. She could see a large bruise on his lower left side, turning various shades of deep blue, black, and green and a few superficial cuts and scrapes. The netting that covered his body, which conducted electrical currents that both supported the camouflage system and could be used to provide their bodies with much needed warmth, had been damaged heavily.

They walked away from both groups and headed off to a nearby rooftop, under the cover of night and well out of sight of both curious Yautja and prying human eyes.

R'chnt sat down on the landing platform of a fire escape and K'Shai slipped in next to him close enough to allow her shoulder to brush against his as he tended to his injuries and surveyed the dark lands of the world beyond them. K'Shai raised her eyes to the sky and scanned, squinting just enough to help her to see the distant glow of the Yautja ships orbiting far above the ground.

She questioned him about the ships and how many Yautja had even come to Earth; all this time and she hadn't thought to ask.

"All the clans from every land have sent every blooded hunter. No honorable Yautja would refuse to come." He said simply, but quietly.

"Females that have not hunted in decades left their motherly duties to join this fight alongside freshly blooded youth and elders alike."

K'Shai listened quietly and shut her eyes, envisioning hundreds of thousand Yautja warriors all over Earth, fighting a battle that wasn't theirs to fight. It made almost no sense to her at all, and it was the one thing about the Yautja that no one understood, not even her.

"R'chnt, why are you here?" She asked in a whisper, barely able to form the words, not because she still struggled to speak his language, but because she knew deep inside that she didn't want to hear the answer.

She felt her body shake, her heart thunder and race. Her stomach felt weak and se suddenly felt dizzy as she braced in anticipation of his response.

She dropped her eyes and tilted her head away from him, finding sudden interest in the diamond plating pattern of the metal landing on which she sat. She could see him turn to her, but the silence that filled the air for a moment was overwhelming.

Before he even spoke, she knew she was about to hear the response that she could not accept from the beginning; the answer that it seemed every other human seemed to _just know._ She took a ragged breath as she tried to restrain a tear.

R'chnt extended his hand towards her and gently rested his fingers under her chin. He raised her head towards him and stroked her delicate cheek bone softly with his thumb. He did not say a word. She was sure she felt something in his touch that she had not felt before and it made her body surge.

"Why? Why would you do this to us?" She said through a shaky whisper.

He released his fingers from her chin and lowered his eyes. The Leader took a raspy breath and held a long deep sigh before he spoke. He kept his eyes away from her gaze.

"This was a crime…" he started. His deep voice slowly told her his tale.

"Three youngsters, who failed their first hunt and did not earn their right to be recognized by the clan, stole a ship with the _kainde amedha_ eggs aboard. It was a _seeding_ ship that was used to deposit small clusters of eggs on hunting worlds for the hunt.

The youngsters managed to sneak about like cowards and steal the vessel. They seeded your world to make the ultimate hunting grounds so they could prove themselves in the eyes of our people"

With each word Cassandra felt herself grow a little weaker. His words sank deep into her body. They pierced her heart and dug into her soul.

"What gives you the right to…. To play God like that with an entire people?" She whispered harshly back to him, her emotions fueling with anger.

"It isn't only _humans_ you destroyed, but the animal life, too. Our world is ruined because of this. How can you think you have the right to have so much power?"

"K'Shai,"

R'chnt responded emphatically.

"What happened to your world is against everything my people have ever believed in. There has never been another incident like this in all of our history. By the time we realized what had happened to your world, it was already done. We are here to fix this, to try to redeem the honor of our people."

"It's a little late for that, don't you think?" She grunted.

R'chnt lowered his head and dropped his gaze to his own feet.

"Our people have never destroyed a planet before. This is not what we do. We came here to undo what had been done, to try to give your people and your planet a hope to recover. We will remain on this world until every last of them are dead, or all of us are. It is a matter of honor."

K'Shai sighed and shook her head as tears rolled down her cheeks. She wiped them away and suddenly found herself more torn than she had ever been before in her life.

Fueling the distrust between the humans and the Yautja was the human belief that the hunters were the cause of their suffering, and it was something that Cassandra shrugged off as incorrect.

She wanted to believe it wasn't true, especially as she had grown to know R'chnt and his people, but now, she found herself wrestling with a whole new developing set of emotions about him on top of the feelings she already realized she had.

"So what happened to the three youngsters?" She asked of him after a brief silence when she was able to find her voice again.

She glanced to him and he turned his chin towards her.

"Only one survived long enough to be hunted down by our own people and killed."

K'Shai nodded, figuring that would be the answer.

"Well, at least we don't have to worry about them anymore."

"No," R'chnt confirmed. "Their bloodlines will not poison our people anymore."

"Their bloodlines? I thought you said unblooded weren't allowed to breed?" K'Shai asked quickly and curiously.

"K'Shai, what happened here was a sin against our entire people; all of our beliefs. The ones responsible for this and everyone in their entire bloodline has been disgraced on a level that has never before been seen."

R'chnt explained and continued on in a growling whisper that resounded with anger and outrage.

"Every member of their lineage has been hunted down and killed. Any of them that chose to try to redeem any honor they could were required to kill themselves publically. Anyone who refused was hunted down."

K'Shai gasped shakily as the concept of hunting down and slaughtering an entire lineage absorbed into her mind.

"Everyone?" She whispered.

"All of them. Every father, mother, cousin, grandsire, every child. Young, old, male, female." R'chnt explained with a growl of both disgust and satisfaction in his tone. "They were _all_ destroyed so their blood will never taint our people again."

K'Shai took a raspy, broken breath and held still for a moment, unable to even look at him as she tried to comprehend such punishment. She fell silent and did not move or speak or even breathe for an awkwardly long time.

R'chnt said nothing, remaining respectfully silent. Finally, Cassandra turned to him and he glanced to her.

"I'm sorry, I have to leave."

She stood and pulled away, avoiding his reach for her as she hurried off, glancing angrily at another member of his group who was nearby. She felt overwhelmed with more emotions than she had ever thought possible.

She fled into a quiet space of an abandoned store somewhere out of the way between both encampments and stared gloomily out a display window at her own world; at what was left of her world, trying to comprehend the words of the alien leader and wrestle with her own emotions for him and about what he had told her.

Cassandra curled into a ball and cried for hours, to the point of vomiting. She tried to focus on something else, anything else, but she could not.

She could not even pin point exactly which part of the entire truth hurt her worse. She was not sure if it was the ruthless and uncaring plans of the youngsters, or the destruction of the human race, or the Yautja people for being so arrogant as to think they should have the kind of power by which to destroy worlds that made her the most nauseous.

She did not know if she was so upset by the truth that she, and every other human, knew deep down or if she was more upset that she had been so blinded from the truth by her own imagination that she could not see it for herself.

It wasn't until Cassandra sat up as the dawn light cracked the skies and she patted down her face, and wiped her eyes, that she finally realized the one thing that was upsetting her more than any other; the feelings she could not deny that she now wrestled with.

Cassandra tipped her head back and sighed deeply.

She had hoped that the alien warriors had come to this planet out of good natured aide for a species desperately in trouble. She had naively thought there could be an alliance between the two races, a new friendship, perhaps even a way off this world to a safer haven.

None of that was to be.

If the alien hunters were successful in their goals, they would slay the last drone, the last Queen, and leave this planet and never return. They would not help humanity find their footing again, or do any of the other things Cassandra's mind had thought they would do.

Her thoughts drifted back to R'chnt and she sat for a while longer in the early morning light contemplating him and her ever growing relationship with him.

She shut her eyes and cried a little more until she was so tired of hearing herself cry that she dried her cheeks and watched the sun rise. She did not see R'chnt watching her from a rooftop on the far end of the opposite side of the street.

The orange light from the rising sun rippled in the window as the beams hit her eyes. Suddenly she saw movement. A reflection in the window, and a familiar form took shape, highlighted by the sun's morning rays.

She turned her head slightly, very much aware that her eyes and cheeks were equally as red as the morning sunlight.

"Cassandra?" Lewis asked of her. "Are you all right? What's going on? What's wrong?"

He knelt down to her and tried to comfort her against the upset she was feeling. Cassandra sighed and stared at him blurrily through her teary eyes as she wiped them once more with her sleeve.

She could feel her heart skipping beats as it jumped powerfully into her throat. Lewis's questions had such a powerful array of answers. She could not form words to respond.

Cassandra eyed him warily, considering if she should speak her thoughts to him. Her eyes widened and she could not control another tear from running down her cheek. Lewis stared at her silently, with a concerned look on his face.

Cassandra swallowed and opened her mouth. She took a deep breath, prepared her words in the back of her throat before she spoke.

She saw a myriad of possible outcomes flash before her eyes. The truth she was harboring weighed heavily in her heart and mind. No one really knew for sure the truth about the bug drones, or the hunters that slaughtered them.

Lewis did not know that she had been sneaking away for months to see R'chnt, and he certainly had no concept of the feelings she had only recently discovered for herself.

She sighed and clenched her jaws again.

The leader confessed the sins of his race to her, and now she considered another sin.

She saw a war break out before her very eyes as she stared at Lewis considering what she would say to him or how she could tell him the truth about what had been going on and what she knew.

The truth would shatter the human race no doubt, even more than they already were. She could see a resistance against the Yautja rise up and strap mankind between two powerful, brutal alien enemies.

She could see raids taking place against resting groups of alien warriors, and hundreds more human slain for their attempts. She could not see anything positive out of telling Lewis, or anyone else, the real truth of the matter.

Cassandra lowered her eyes and fought her heart back into her chest, out of her throat.

"Everything's fine. Sorry, I'm fine." She whispered as she stared out of the display window at the street outside. "I just still can't believe it's all gone."

Lewis clamped a hand supportively on her shoulder and helped her to stand.

"Come on. Let's get back to the group."

Cassandra nodded and walked with Lewis back to the human group.

She did not realize until sometime later in the afternoon that R'chnt was gone. He had taken his group away again and she only just vaguely just wondered if he was ever going to return at all.

She tried to convince herself as the evening set, that she did not care. She repeated it to herself, and eyed the alien weapon he had given her months ago, that she had not even used because she did not want anyone to know she had it.

She ran her fingers over its sleek ridged shaft and let her mind slip away.

"Where did you get that?" John asked, suddenly snapping Cassandra back into the current moment.

"Oh… uhh… I found it." She said quickly as she slipped the weapon around behind her, trying to shield it from John.

"Found it? I've never seen those big ugly bastards leave their weapons lying around." John eyed her suspiciously.

"It uh…. It was on a body I found on a run a few days ago."

"Hmm…" He grumbled. "Well that's a powerful weapon for a little girl. Let me see it." He stepped forward sharply as though he had commanded a servant to obey.

Cassandra leaped up to her feet and jumped away from him and he stopped suddenly, smiling.

"Whoa there, easy. Just relax. I just wanna' see the weapon, Cassy."

"Everything alright?" Lewis called out from the doorway and Cassandra felt relieved.

She stalked away and headed off with Lewis, but said nothing. She remained quiet for days, avoiding John at all costs and eyeing the group around her suspiciously.

She did not know if John had told anyone else about the weapon she possessed and she was more concerned about explaining where she got it than anything. Every time she tried to force a thought about R'chnt from her mind she found herself in an exhausting mental wrestling match that went on for days.

There were criminals amongst man, but that did not make all humans evil.

The more Cassandra thought about it, the more she contemplated the overwhelming display of goodwill and hopeful spirit that she viewed as the power behind the human race, during the harsh and impossible times that had consumed the planet.

She knew that humans, at the very least were suspicious, if not all together despising of the Yautja, and much the same was true in reverse. She felt caught somewhere in the middle between her anger towards them for playing God the way they did, empowering themselves over other species, and all that she had learned over the last several months about R'chnt himself and his people on the whole.

She would have hated the idea of R'chnt feeling negatively about her because her people were capable of terrible acts of terrorism that she had nothing to do with. Although the warriors were not specifically there to save mankind, that was exactly what they were doing, and Cassandra knew it.

They were there to fight their own fight, which just happened to involve the entire human planet, and R'chnt had made it clear many times that he intended her no harm.

The hunters had been gone for five days, one of the longer times they had gone. She had gotten used to R'chnt only being away for three days, maybe four, before he brought his group back to the area to rest before heading out again.

Now, she sat questioning everything that had happened from their last conversation and worried that he would be gone for good. Morning rose on the fifth day and there had been no sign at all of the hunting party returning.

The group's supplies were slowly dwindling and they were beginning to discuss leaving the area, without any thought or concern for the hunters. Throughout the afternoon, tensions seemed to be on the rise as people butted heads with their conflicting opinions of what to do come morning light.

Cassandra avoided the commotion and stayed silent, finding herself scanning the buildings all around as much as she could, from rooftop to street surface, looking for R'chnt to no avail. She feared that the group would choose to move on before he returned. She feared he wouldn't return at all.

"Hey! Hey! If you want to, then go ahead, and get yourself killed! I for one am done! DONE! I'm staying right here! Hold out; hold them off, for as long as possible. We keep making runs. We're in a good spot, and haven't had an encounter with the drones in weeks now. _Weeks_."

"Yea, thanks to the hunters." Cassandra heard someone add in.

"Well, they're gone. Who knows if we'll see them again? Who cares." John grumbled. "They've probably cleared this area out and they've moved on, which means we are safe here."

"You don't know that!" Another argued.

"Lewis?" Carlos glanced to Lewis, looking for his opinion.

Lewis glanced to Cassandra who only briefly looked his way and then immediately went back to scanning the streets for R'chnt without even realizing it.

"Let's hold here for now. We still have enough supplies to get through a few more days if we can. We will reassess in the morning and try to organize another run."

The matter seemed to be settled for the moment and the group dispersed to mutter amongst themselves. As summer days wound down to an end and evening came a little earlier, Lewis watched Cassandra scan the darkening sky as he approached her.

"What's going on Cassandra?" He asked of her flatly. Carlos looked on next to Lewis, but stayed silent.

She looked over to them, pulling her eyes away from the dead still of the warm night and pursed her lips.

"You have barely said a word in days. You clearly have something on your mind." Lewis tried again, leaving trailing off sentences to allow her to fill in the blanks, but she remained silent.

"I'm fine." She looked at him intently, acknowledging the curious and concerned look on his face, but said nothing further.

"Look!" Someone called out, pointing down the street through one of the front windows.

Curious people suddenly ran to get a look at whatever was being pointed out. Cassandra could not see anything from the wrong corner of the store on the opposite side, so she immediately bolted into the back stock room and through the rear exit door with Lewis and Carlos leaping to catch up to her.

She felt suddenly excited, sure that finally R'chnt had returned but as she rounded the corner of the building and got a view down the long street, she felt sadness, disappointment, and despair well up in her again.

There were no hunters to be seen, but a raging fire somewhere in the distance filled the early evening air with an orange glow; the black plume of smoke was only just barely visible against the dark backdrop of night sky, gray clouds, and a shadowy mountain far in the distance.

"That isn't that far away." Carlos said quietly. "Maybe five miles…."

"Do you think it was the hunters?" Lewis asked.

Cassandra stepped forward a few feet, eyeing the blaze, and looking about the streets all around. If it was R'chnt or any Yautja, she did not see any of them at all.

"Let's get back inside," Carlos urged Cassandra and put his hand on her shoulder to guide her away.

She glanced again down the street, and the building rooftops all around them before she turned to head inside, feeling lost and mournful, wondering if she would ever see R'chnt at all again.

Cassandra stayed up well into the middle of the night while most of the others slept, and only a few kept watch. She tiptoed outside and walked the perimeter of the building, staying close to the encampment, but eyeing the buildings around her in silent worry and anticipation.

Suddenly she saw a familiar shimmering ripple in the night from a rooftop some distance away and her heart leapt and a smile filled her face.

She bolted away from the human group, not noticing or caring if anyone saw her leave the area. Her eyes were set on the decloaking body of R'chnt and she quickly made her way to him, popping into the nearby building and making her way to the stairwell to access the rooftop.

She emerged on the roof and found R'chnt alone, sitting on the concrete ledge, watching the fire burn in the far distance. She approached him slowly, surging with emotions after the events that transpired the last time she saw him and her relief that he was back.

He was taking a moment to remove his helmet, which clattered to the concrete floor and he glanced to her.

K'Shai smiled widely at him.

"Hello R'chnt. I'm so glad you're back." She whispered softly and walked over to him, stopping her body just inches from his.

He popped out a round container from the back of his armor, and offered it to her first. The coppery metallic colored tube looked quite similar to a thermos, and Cassandra popped the lid panel open and took a sip of the sweet drink it contained.

She extended her hand to return the flask to him and as he reached for it, she did not let it go. He glanced to her and she stepped closer to him still.

"I was afraid I wasn't going to see you again, R'chnt." She whispered to him and released her grip on the flask.

R'chnt finished up the contents but said nothing, he simply watched her with a calm gaze.

"I know…" she started and cleared her throat, "that last time we talked.. it… we…" She stumbled over her own words, trying to form a coherent thought.

"That was hard to hear," she finally said, placing her hand on his and gently caressing his fingers. He sat on the concrete wall to the roof, motionless, but she could feel the tension in his strong hands and hesitation coursing through his body. She sighed softly.

"But I am so glad you told me."

She smiled awkwardly at him as he stared at her in silence.

"I just wanted you to know that." She added in quickly, as though that was the only thing she wanted to tell him.

He nodded, but remained silent. Her hand slid over and along his right arm gauntlet which housed a deadly set of two foot long blades. She stroked along the alien armor and moved her hand idly up towards his elbow where she stopped and gently ran her fingers over a scrape on his lower bicep that had begun to heal.

"I would like to ask you…" she whispered.

She kept her eyes shifted down, staring at his arm as she tried to form one more burning question on her mind.

"You told me about this huge dishonor, and about how your people handled it. I…" she paused and raised her eyes to meet his. "I was wondering if…your friendship with me puts you at risk?"

He clicked his upper mandibles together and paused, his upper tusks lightly tapping against each other making an audible tick. She watched him, holding her breath, anticipating one response, but her heart was racing, hoping for another.

"No, K'Shai, there is nothing you would do that would cause dishonor."

She smiled widely and stepped in closer to him yet, lowering her chin slightly and idly dropping her gaze along his chest and abdomen and belts.

"Nothing?"

She confirmed to him coyly, her nervous grip tightening slightly around his muscular bicep as she slid her other hand up to his shoulder and took a soft, deep breath.

Her body tingled wildly and without further hesitation, she pressed her lips softly into his cheek.

She was surprised by what she felt. The sides of his lower jaw were adorned with small, thick, quill-like hair protrusions, a beard as she took it. Though those little hairs were somewhat rigid the skin of his face was smooth, though tough and battle worn, but still elegant to touch.

She shut her eyes and quivered for a moment, allowing a rush of feelings to overtake her.

She could feel the tension in R'chnt's body suddenly increase as he sat balanced on an eighteen inch wide concrete wall three stories above the street.

He seemed to suddenly become so rigid it was unnatural, like he was going out of his way not to move or breathe or make a sound.

K'Shai nudged his lower jaw with her face softly and held onto a raspy, nervous breath as she put her lips against his skin once more, softly kissing along his lower mandible. She could hear her own heart pounding inside her breast as she succumbed to the thrilling feeling boiling up in her.

R'chnt held as still and rigid as the concrete wall he had his back pressed up against and K'Shai pulled away slightly, eyeing him widely with uncertainty.

"Please say something," she whispered, alarmed.

Her nerves shot up to the stars.

If there was a way for her nervousness to physically radiate out of her body like projectiles, she was certain this was the moment they would. Her heart thundered wildly far beyond any control she could muster over it.

She watched him hold stiff and still and she feared, for the briefest of moments that seemed to drag on for a week that 'nothing' didn't include this. She feared she had gone too far.

She pulled her head away from him slightly and retracted her shoulders, her grip loosened from him and she lowered her eyes and tipped her head sideways. He turned his head towards her and stared at her curiously.

She wondered if she had overstepped her bounds, scaled over that invisible solid wall that had separated his kind from hers; crossed the barbed wire line that was not meant to be approached.

The Leader did not move and for a moment, neither did she. Cassandra could feel her body begin to shake, her hands started to feel the effect, and they trembled softly as she stared at him. She took a soft, deep breath.

"R'chnt, I…." she started to whisper, but couldn't continue.

She did not know what to say.

Suddenly, and without a word, he reached for her and placed one hand completely around her body, pulling her towards him with his strong grip. She could feel his body relax a little more and she exhaled a pleased groan, reaching for his cheek once again, more feverishly.

K'Shai kissed and tasted his skin between her lips and against her tongue as she ran one hand along his powerful chest and felt his warm body rising and falling as he breathed.

She brushed his long, beaded gray locks aside and extended her other hand further behind his body, stroking his back along the cold metal armor he wore and up along his neck, running her fingers through his thick strands of hair down to his skin.

R'chnt leaned against her as she reached her lips further back along his lower jaw, brushing carefully against the side of her face and top of her neck with his tusks. Her hand on his chest slipped back down his abdomen and settled over his waist, which spurred a pleased clicking sound from R'chnt.

K'Shai smiled and lowered her head, tracing her lips along his shoulder, past his armor to the exposed skin on his chest and pressed her lips and body into him.

R'chnt growled softly in what almost sounded like a purr as he shifted his position to allow her as close to him as possible, while balancing awkwardly on the thin ledge.

Gasping for a deep breath as her body churned wildly, K'Shai pulled away from R'chnt with an excited smile and lightly laughed.

"Why don't you come down off of there? You're making me nervous."

She put both hands on his shoulders and shifted sideways to allow him to slide off the rooftop ledge. His deep voice offered an amused chuckle as he slid down along the short wall and sat on the cold concrete roof.

K'Shai immediately straddled him and took a deep, aroused breath as she resumed fondling his body with her hands and lips and tongue. R'chnt tipped his head back and suddenly, following a long, deep breath, relaxed completely under her, letting the moment sweep over him and absorb into him.

She felt like he was melting into her. He growled softly with around pleasure and wrapped his arms against her as she lowered her body against his.

His skin was smooth and thick. It wasn't as soft as a human's, but despite the reptilian-like faded gray diamond pattern on his arms, legs, back and sides, his skin felt nothing like a reptile's.

K'Shai savored every inch of his body and sides and abdomen and cheeks as she kissed and tasted him everywhere she could. She moved her hips and pressed herself against him as both of their bodies raged in synch.

She moaned and breathed deeply and leaned back, grinding herself slowly against his hips as she removed her shirt. R'chnt placed his strong hands against her bare sides and stroked her chest and body softly.

K'Shai leaned into him once more, and put one hand on his chest, the other on his cheek. She kissed his face and brushed her lips and tongue over his tusks as she settled deeply against him and took another breath.

R'chnt stroked her bare back, tracing his taloned fingers down her spine and around her hips and down her thighs. He grunted with delight and she smiled excitedly as he quickly reached for his belt that held on his groin piece.

"Are you OK?" She asked with a wide smile and soft laugh.

He grumbled something about discomfort, but before he could unclick the belt and free his swelling masculinity from its confining housing, a voice startled them both.

"What in the holy fucking hell?" John said with an exasperated and disgusted tone.

"Oh my God!"

K'Shai leapt up off R'chnt as he growled loudly and angrily and jumped up to his feet before K'Shai could barely react.

John, stunned, raised his gun and pointed it between K'Shai and R'chnt unsure where to aim first. K'Shai eyed John wildly and tried to calm him down.

"John! Don't! Just relax…"

"What is going on here, Cassy?"

He said shakily, waving the gun around as R'chnt loomed tall, growling, wrist blades out and ready in a flash.

"Stay the hell away from me," he warned R'chnt as he turned his gun away from K'Shai and towards him,

and in an instant, despite K'Shai's attempts, the situation was over.

John pulled the trigger and the gun went off.

K'Shai instinctively leapt sideways to avoid being shot and she glanced around to see if R'chnt had been hit before even realizing that R'chnt had impaled John in a fraction of a second with his wrist blades.

K'Shai clapped her hands over her mouth and watched two other hunters from R'chnt's group appear on the opposite corner of the rooftop, quickly hurrying towards the sound of the gun shot. They stopped abruptly as they surveyed the situation, probably trying to figure for themselves exactly what was going on, too.

R'chnt ejected John's limp corpse off his wrist blades and the blades retracted with a metallic _chink_ back into their housing. K'Shai glanced around, realizing she had no shirt on.

She grabbed up her clothes and quickly redressed while the two hunters questioned aloud what was happening.

Suddenly, gunfire rang out from elsewhere, a few blocks away and screaming voices echoed up through the night. R'chnt growled to K'Shai to get back to her group and stay safe.

He turned to leave with the other two hunters, but before he made it a few feet, she called him back briefly and darted forward, halfway leaping off the ground so she could reach her arms over his neck.

She embraced him quickly and squeezed her eyes shut, feeling the warmth of his heated body for the briefest of moments before she kissed him softly and wished him a safe hunt.

He lowered her to her feet quickly, but delicately and spun around, securing his bio helmet to his head as he disappeared over the side of the building and rejoined the pack as to head towards the commotion.

K'Shai thundered down the stairwell inside the building and out onto the street, joining up with Lewis and several others as they headed towards the fray themselves.

She couldn't help but feel an internal bit of disappointment that the evening had spiraled so suddenly away from the direction she had hoped it was going to head, but in a moment more, drones were coming into view on the sides of the nearby buildings and rooftops, and a battle quickly followed.

She only barely saw R'chnt fighting two drones by himself while the rest of his outnumbered group was busy with their own opponents as some of the human group evacuated others from the area while a small group including Lewis and Cassandra offered some assistance to the Yautja.

For the first time, K'Shai used the weapon R'chnt had given her so long ago.

"Where did you get that?!" Lewis asked her and she smiled and shook her head.

"Long story," she said simply and left it at that as the battle began to wind slowly down.

"Where's John? Have you seen him?" He asked quickly and she felt her heart skip a beat.

"He's… uhhh… he's not joining us anymore."

She responded vaguely. She spoke slowly, trying to come up with the words for a suitable explanation.

Lewis shot her a quizzical gauge and noticed her hands shaking slight.

"I shot him. I had to."

She spoke sharply and curtly and turned her back to Lewis, jogging away quickly to return to the group far ahead of them.

Lewis tracked after her and they caught back up with the remainder of the group. She glanced back towards where she had last seen any of the hunters and only barely noticed that they were heading away in the opposite direction.

She glanced to a roof top, only just barely visible in the dark distance, and noticed R'chnt quickly decloak, glanced her way, cloak again and disappear.

"Cassy? Come on!" Lewis got her attention back and she turned to head away.

She noticed him glance down the street, but she doubted he saw what she had been looking at.

She stayed quiet, and Lewis did not question her further as to what had happened. She moved on with her group, knowing that as soon as his work was done, R'chnt would return to their location.

She found herself spending most of the rest of the night, until the group found a new place to make camp, excitedly anticipating his return, before he she finally fell asleep sometime in the early morning hours.


	25. Chapter 24

**CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR**

The dwindling late afternoon sun blazed a brilliant reddish orange on a nearly perfect early autumn day as the evening pressed on. It had not even been just over a day since she last saw R'chnt, but she smiled softly as she thought about his return.

Ironically, neither of the last two times she had been with him ended the way she expected, and Cassandra kept her amusement about it quiet as she watched the sun drop lower in the sky. She found her mind yet again racing with thought she couldn't control, feelings that thrilled her to the core, and an eagerness she had a tough time containing.

"Hey, Cassy?" Lewis caught her attention. "Are you alright? You seem a little …. Distant."

Carlos looked at her quietly and she couldn't help but feel he was trying to give her a silent examination.

"I'm fine."

"What happened back there?" Lewis questioned as he crouched down next to her.

She remained sitting at a window on the fifth floor of an office building, keeping watch on the cool and windy streets.

She could hear the wind blowing and stared hard through the streets, avoiding looking at either of them directly. She could see Lewis looking at her alien weapon through the corner of her eye while Carlos continued to scan her as though he was looking for injuries.

"You shot John? With _that?_ " Lewis asked and Cassandra pulled the alien hand rifle from its holding belt around her waist.

She held it in her hands and looked it over, silently recapping what had actually happened and glanced to her friends, wanting to tell them, but at a loss for words.

"He came around a corner and startled me. He had a gun pointed at me. He took a shot. There wasn't any choice."

She said, leaving out the specific details, but convincing herself that she had told him enough of what essentially did happen.

Lewis nodded and Carlos asked if she was injured.

"I'm fine."

"Where did you really get that weapon from?"

Lewis continued looking it over and Cassandra handed it to him so he could more fully inspect it.

She tried to think up a plausible answer and considered where the subsequent conversation would go. She was not sure exactly how much she cared to divulge at that point and suddenly felt guilty about it.

She had been slipping silently away from the safety of her group and the company of her friends for months and had said nothing. The conversation was inevitable, but until that point it had not come up and she had not truly spent any time figuring out how she was going to approach such a delicate subject.

She extended her hand for the weapon and Lewis handed it back to her while still giving her a determined questioning and slightly concerned stare.

"Uhhmm…" she began to stammer, trying to formulate a sentence in her head.

Much to her immediate relief, someone grabbed Carlos' attention away for medical help and Lewis followed along to offer assistance.

Cassandra stood and stalked over, but lingered in the back of the next room over, near the door, watching one of the women in the group wince and groan in pain from a deep injury.

Cassandra sighed and rubbed her eyes and face and headed out of the room, through the adjacent room, down a corridor past some offices, and into the stairwell to head up towards the roof when she heard the rooftop door click open over the sound of her own footsteps.

A smile flashed on her face through pressed lips and she looked up towards the next level to see the familiar blue flicker of light as R'chnt decloaked.

K'Shai beamed at him and immediately shot up the remaining stairs, wrapping her arms around him the moment she got near. He lifted her up and wrapped one hand under her thigh, supporting her as he pushed her back against the wall and she gasped with delight.

She kissed him under his raised chin and along his chest, and reached her hands from his arms and shoulders around behind him as he lightly growled with thrilled delight.

"Maybe we should go… somewhere else…" she gasped as she realized her voice was probably echoing down the empty cinder stairwell.

R'chnt gripped her tightly and the two of them dropped down towards the floor as K'Shai laughed loudly.

She laid on her back under him and bit her lower lip as she watched him above her, still gripping his arms tightly as he tried to pull up to a crouching position over her.

"Anywhere you like," he said invitingly and K'Shai smiled widely, not really ready to move as her body pulsed with tremendous arousal.

She pulled him back down towards her and removed his helmet, passionately kissing him with feverish delight.

He stretched his upper tusks apart into a smile and lowered himself towards her, stroking a hand along her body and hip and thigh. K'Shai gasped and groaned, trying to keep her voice low as R'chnt's hand groped her more fully around her thigh, his fingers slipping into the waist of her jeans.

She tightened her grip on his shoulders and tried to stifle a thrilled shriek when a small buzzing sound echoed out.

R'chnt sighed and clenched his jaws closed tightly, tipping his head to the side with annoyance. K'Shai pressed her lips together in a small disappointed smile as R'chnt depressed a button on his arm band.

"What now!?" He barked sharply into the communication panel.

The second of the group, W'rsa, younger than R'chnt, but certainly not lacking for experience, immediately spoke with alarm.

K'Shai had gotten to know W'rsa probably the best out of all of the other Yautja in the group other than R'chnt. He had bold deep blood red and black markings against a yellowish skin and preferred the modern weapons like the hand held plasma caster R'chnt had given K'Shai for protection; the type of weapon he did not care for himself.

W'rsa was curious about K'Shai, and she wasn't blind to it. He was probably as curious about her as R'chnt, but he respected R'chnt deeply and had been hunting alongside him for long enough to know it would be a futile thing to question or challenge him.

She heard clear alarm in his voice and he said merely one word.

" _R'ka-lou-dte!"_

K'Shai certainly knew the meaning well; it was practically one of the first words she learned.

She and R'chnt, sadly interrupted again, jumped up with alarm and bolted away. R'chnt told K'Shai to

make her way back to her group and safety and shot out of the door to back to the roof while K'Shai thundered down the stairwell and immediately ran to alert Lewis and the others.

"We've got a Queen coming in! Let's go! Hurry!" She shouted, grabbing her Yautja gun and heading to Lewis's side.

He glanced between her, the weapon, and the suddenly jumping up group around them and shot her back an understanding look. Cassandra glanced at Lewis and in a flash of an instant caught the look.

He seemed to have developed at the very least a sudden understanding of what was going on; of how she knew there was immediate danger heading their way before any other human had a chance to sound out the alarm; of how she got the weapon.

Although she was sure he probably hadn't figured out the exact details, Cassandra did seem to see in his look, a validation of his suspicions. She decided she would talk to him after. After the battle.

He should know. Her relationship with R'chnt had taken a whole new spin, and she knew she at the very least owed it to both Lewis and Carlos to try to explain and to stop slipping away out of their glance.

For the moment, those thoughts did not matter. The human group was roused to high alert and by the time Cassandra and the others made their way onto the streets, they could hear the raging sound of battle from somewhere in the distance.

Without delay, K'Shai bolted towards the Yautja and the battle, the humans sprinting along to keep up.

The group rounded a corner and barely managed to stay on their feet as an explosion rocked the street, sending bricks and chunks of buildings cascading down upon them.

The queen herself angrily slammed into a nearby building, her deadly spined tail whipping furiously into the street, just feet from Cassandra and Lewis, who both scrambled out of the way, narrowly avoiding being impaled as the sharp end of her tail dug into the street, cracking pavement.

"Watch out! That thing can slice somebody in half!" Lewis exclaimed as he ran to a better vantage point to take a shot.

"You hurt?" He called to Cassandra.

She shook her head and aimed her weapon as well. Before anyone could get off a shot, blue bursts of plasma flashed and light up the night sky and a wild roar echoed from somewhere between the buildings.

The queen hissed and charged off like an enraged bull, not even noticing or caring about the humans that were closing in on her flank. She thundered out of sight towards the Yautja warriors somewhere on the far side on the adjacent block, but a definite hissing still rang through the air.

K'Shai glanced around the street and up the buildings above her head and saw nothing. Someone called out a warning and she spun around just in time to avoid being hit with bursting glass as a dozen of the bug drones charged through a dark display window from a building just behind her.

Before she could even realize it, the small group of humans was surrounded by a charging swarm of bugs, coming to protect their queen. The sounds of the Yautja battle raging on in the near distance soon became blurred as K'Shai and Lewis and the rest struggled to get clear of the swarm and see the rest of their group to safety.

Cassandra and Lewis darted towards Carlos who was helping previously injured people out towards safety as quickly as they could. Cassandra pulled up the back of the group, just behind three young children, barely ten years old, as she ushered them away from the battle and turned to maintain fire on drones nearby.

They scurried away from the swarm, from remaining fighters, and from the queen and the Yautja, and hurried between two buildings, through an alley. Their path quickly ended up cut off at both ends.

K'Shai and another shot in one direction and Lewis and his back up fired off in the other against the speedy and agile drones. With their nearly armor-thick hides and lightening quick speed and maneuverability, the drones were a challenging target to hit, and difficult to kill.

K'Shai managed to shoot two as the powerful Yautja weapon tore through one and hit right into another. She aimed for her third kill, but the damaging blue burst of flame missed and burned through brick and mortar instead.

The group darted into the opposite building avoiding a rain of acid blood and an encroaching swarm of drones. They ran through the display racks of a clothing store, the drones tearing in behind them, knocking over mannequins and glass shelves as they went.

K'Shai barely had time to perceive that the small group of people was completely surrounded when the queen, in a final death throw outside the building smashed into the front display windows, immediately followed by a fireball of blue blasts.

"Get down!"

She screamed and everyone dropped to the floor to avoid being shot, which offered them up as open invitation for the drones to pounce upon.

Someone to K'Shai's right started screaming in pain as the drone impaled him and began to drag him away. She tried to quell the young boy next to her who was sobbing and wailing, while she shot at another approaching drone.

She could hear a continued swarm outside, beyond their dead queen, screeching and calling into the night, challenging the Yautja warriors positioned around the street, but she had little time to think of that.

She pulled herself up and opened fire, followed by the rest of the group as their own swarm of bugs pressed in.

One of them jumped at K'Shai and slammed into her hard. She toppled to the ground and heard a scream, a gunshot and the subsequent sizzling as the creature's acid blood seared the floor below them.

She only had a fraction of a second to realize she wasn't hurt, though she needed to get away. She rolled out from the drone and it slammed into her, ramming her with his head, and pushing her along the floor before she could regain any chance at her feet.

She scrambled to grab her plasma rifle which had clattered to the floor next to her when she fell, and gasped as her fingers only just missed it.

She scrambled to try to regain her footing as the drone bit into her arm and she screamed in agony. She wasn't exactly sure what was happening beyond her entanglement, but she was vaguely aware of gun fire, shouting and running.

Suddenly she was sent clattering down an escalator into the lower level. She slammed hard into the floor at the bottom and gasped to catch her breath as she saw the drone clamoring down after her. She scrambled clumsily to her feet and got out of the way as the animal was chased down the stairs by a bolt of blue flame.

K'Shai sighed with relief as the drone skidded mid jump to a dead halt and slid across the floor, leaving a burning, sizzling streak in its wake. She bent over, hands on her knees and tried to catch her breath as she glanced back to the stairwell to see Lewis and the others thundering down.

Lewis had her Yautja rifle in his hands and was bringing up the rear of the group, shooting back up the stair pit to the drones that were still chasing them down.

The basement level sales floor quickly became a tattered mess as sizzling drone bodies piled up at the base of the escalator while the ones that managed to avoid being shot ran across the ceilings and down the walls.

"I'm out!" Someone called.

Before anyone could toss him another clip a drone was on him. Lewis shot it, and he scrambled away, narrowly avoiding the blast of acid that sprayed everywhere.

He tossed the weapon to Cassandra after glancing around noticing that the last of the drones was shot dead in a near corner.

"That thing's nice." Lewis said approvingly.

"Right?!" Cassandra said with an amused smile.

"Let's go, this way…" he pointed down the aisle between racks of clothes and Cassandra grabbed up two of the children nearby and headed along in Lewis' tracks.

"Look out!" The little boy called suddenly and the group spun around behind them as another drone scrambled across the ceiling after them.

K'Shai opened fire and as the carcass dropped to the floor, she noticed another one entering from a swinging stock room door at the far end, followed by another and another. Someone else called from the back of the group that more drones were heading at them from another direction.

"They don't stop do they?" Lewis said exasperatingly.

She shot him a wide eyed look and tipped her head as she fired again and again.

"Does that thing ever run out?" He asked quickly between shots.

"I'll let you know when I find out." K'Shai responded grittily as she fired again and again.

"Whoa!" The young boy near her side shrieked and K'Shai turned to see R'chnt and three other hunters descending the escalator.

They thundered through the burning corpses piled up at the bottom and growled out a distracting howl as they opened fire on the rest of the drones.

K'Shai maintained her continued firing while the sounds of the human weapons began to dwindle. The floor filled a combination of acid burn, firearm smoke and flaming blue streaks that left a burning ripple in the air like the tail of a comet as it travelled.

K'Shai had trouble breathing and seeing as her throat burned and her eyes teared up, which only made her appreciate the necessity of the Yautja's biomasks that much more.

"Alright, we need to go. We have to get out of here." She said as she stopped shooting and directed the group away from the hunters and towards a rear exit.

They hurried away, K'Shai bringing up the rear. She glanced back to see what was going on as the others ran ahead of her.

Lewis stopped at the exit door and ushered the first of the group through as he looked to Cassandra and noticed her lingering in the dark aisle holding her ground between the two groups, looking towards the alien hunters as they finished their kills and turned towards the human group.

Through the glare of flashlights in the darkened space, Lewis noticed clearly that the gray skinned leader of the hunter pack signaled a visual direction towards Cassandra.

A high pitched shriek from a child and startled shouts followed immediately by wild gunfire caught her attention and K'Shai spun around on her heels, immediately dropping to the group to avoid being shot by uncontrolled gunfire.

She watched one of her group fall backwards, finger still on the trigger for a moment more; a facehugger firmly in place on his head.

She could hear the Yautja coming up quick from behind her and commotion brewing from ahead of her. The boy was cowered down sobbing in fright within arms' reach and K'Shai grabbed him hard and yanked him away, pulling him behind her as a facehugger she had just noticed quickly scrambled for his head.

K'Shai tried quickly to pull the boy to safety and get to her feet while aiming her weapon, but the facehugger's reaction was faster. It coiled its tail and propelled itself through the air with lightening quick speed, and did not miss its target.

K'Shai heard a definite roar of R'chnt's voice and a child scream. She put her hands up to her head just in time to at least avoid having the half crab-half spider looking animal wrap completely around her head, but its tail wasted no time coiling tightly around her neck.

She collapsed backwards and gasped for air as the thing's tail tightened like a snake around its victim. She began to lose focus as she tried with every force of strength she had to push the thing away from her head.

Its impregnation tube ejected from its underside in the hopes of landing the correct spot. She was torn between gasping for air and gritting her teeth against certain death. She vaguely heard people screaming.

She saw Lewis come closer but halt as R'chnt and W'rsa both landed next to her in an instant.

Unable to get any air, she could feel her head getting light. R'chnt gripped the facehugger tightly and pulled while W'rsa gripped the thing's tail and tried to unravel it from around her neck.

K'Shai loosened her grip on the animal as she weakened and grasped instead onto R'chnt's knee as he knelt next to her.

"What is going on here?"

Someone in the group said in stunned amazement as they all halted and watched the scene unfold.

Lewis held still and silent, watching the two massive alien hunters work to free Cassandra of the wretched beast that was quickly strangling her. He was sure he could see her face turning pale.

"They're gonna' break her neck!" someone said to Lewis, who raised a palm to him, watching the scene unfold intently.

K'Shai lost consciousness and the facehugger released its grip, writhing around in R'chnt's hands for a moment before he threw it to a far corner for another of his group to dispose of.

He looked to K'Shai who laid motionless and not breathing on the ground before him. Lewis edged closer, a look of alarm on his face, but he said nothing. Without missing a beat, R'chnt grabbed the plasma rifle off the ground and adjusted a setting.

He pulled K'Shai's shirt back exposing her bare chest as W'rsa watched in silence, surrounded by stunned human onlookers.

"He's gonna' shoot her!"

The man next to Lewis gasped and again Lewis cut him off.

"No, he's not going to hurt her."

Lewis whispered calmly, with certainty.

Something more than he knew was unfolding before his eyes. He could not put words on it, but it was clear to him that there was a friendship at play that he had known nothing about, and suddenly, how Cassandra had come about getting the alien weapon seemed perfectly clear.

R'chnt pressed the weapon against K'Shai's chest and fired. It ejected a small burst of discharge through a tiny flash of light that looked like nothing more than common every day static electricity.

K'Shai bolted upright and gasped for air. She grabbed her chest with one hand and R'chnt's palm in her other. Without delay, R'chnt braced an arm against her back and helped her to feet and the hunters and humans quickly vacated the area and returned to the street beyond the delivery dock at the back of the building.

R'chnt did not stay in the vicinity long, as he took to the rooftops with the rest of his group, who they rejoined once back out to the ended battle.

Lewis, Cassandra and the others joined back up with the rest of the human survivors after a short while, and the group moved on out of the town, slowly heading towards a new place to make camp. The Yautja walked on, nearby to the humans, but at their typical distance.

Cassandra stayed in a spot in the group that put her closest to R'chnt's position in his own group, but she said nothing and did not approach him. She cast him a few wayward glances as the morning light cracked the sky, and barely noticed Lewis and Carlos both watching her do so.

Resting only as they absolutely had to in order to tend to injuries or other needs, the group continued on, warily walking so far from the town that they passed long overgrown cornfields and miles of quiet openness.

Lewis and Carlos glanced to Cassandra from time to time and Carlos tended to the bite on her arm when they stopped for a brief rest, but they rigidly avoided conversation about the alien hunters or any of the events from earlier that morning.

By the time the late afternoon arrived and most of the people in the group were exhausted and weak. Cassandra was quite sure that the awkward and tense silence between she and Lewis and Carlos was going to overwhelm her. She looked at them and glanced towards R'chnt, who, as the street they turned onto narrowed slightly, moved closer to her.

"I think we should rest, Lewis. For the night." She said softly through a tired, raspy voice.

Her throat was sore and bruised from the nearly deadly attack earlier. Her arm was in pain and she was exhausted, and she wanted to answer the obvious questions Lewis and Carlos had for her, but her mind was too weak to find a way to unfold that conversation.

"Let's check this house up ahead," Lewis said aloud, not necessarily to Cassandra, but to the entire group along his side.

He glanced towards Cassandra and nodded but his eyes shifted to a point a dozen meters behind her where R'chnt's body disappeared behind the light refracting invisibility field.

She and Lewis and a few others approached the driveway to a farmhouse. The scene was beautiful and nearly idyllic. A setting sun loomed on the horizon shrouding the house in a warm glow and highlighting the rims of the chimneys and the large backyard pond as a gentle autumn breeze rustled the trees, whose leaves were only just beginning to change to the slightest shade of gold.

A small scouting group, including Cassandra swept down the long, curving driveway and approached the large farmhouse. The house looked oddly out of place from the horrors of the world around it.

It was clean and neat and organized and looked mostly undisturbed. Its white pillars on the large front porch had decorations softly rustling in the wind and the lacy curtains in the windows were neatly tied open.

It wasn't until Cassandra got to the end of the driveway and looked around the front lawn and off towards the barn in the distance that she got the sense that something was out of place with the place.

"Someone's living here," she whispered to Lewis.

She glanced to a large vegetable garden just off the side of the far stairs to the L-shaped front porch and noticed neatly raked lines between the growing variety of crops and freshly wet lines just under the roots.

A chicken cooed from somewhere behind the house and she was certain she heard a cow off in the distance from somewhere far behind the barn.

Lewis turned towards the stairs closest to the main door of the house while the rest of the scouting party stopped some distance behind them, still in the circular driveway. He started up slowly, putting one foot on the bottom stair and holding his breath.

"I don't think we sho…" Cassandra started but her words were cut off by sudden movement.

An old man, shotgun in hand, screamed and ran out of the door towards Lewis and Cassandra, howling for them to leave.

Before anyone could think or react R'chnt brushed by K'Shai and Lewis, his wrist blades extended on his right arm, and a sword at the ready in the other.

He grabbed hold of the old man by the throat, picking him clean up off the porch. Lewis jumped back, stunned, and almost fell off the step he was standing on.

K'Shai bolted in closer and reached one hand right between R'chnt's wrist blades, gripping his fingers that were around the man's throat. She put her other hand around R'chnt's elbow, just past the end of the gauntlet on his right arm.

Lewis could see her shaking as she looked between the startled old man's face and the helmeted head of the giant alien killer that he had barely realized was there before he appeared, ready to kill. He could hear her voice speaking in a whisper, but the words hit his ears like gibberish and had no meaning at all.

She kept repeating the same sounds over and over, to which the alien seemed to respond.

"R'chnt, don't. Please. It's alright. Easy. Relax. Don't hurt him."

K'Shai repeatedly said in a startled whisper.

She felt him loosen his grip slightly on the old man's throat and lower him back to his feet before releasing completely. He loomed over the man, who had dropped his shotgun.

K'Shai was silently surprised the old man didn't die of a heart attack right there on the porch. She noticed his elderly wife standing in the doorway, tears in her eyes and hand clapped over her mouth, stifling her sobs.

She had the door open, but was obviously torn between hiding and running to the aide of her husband, and probably certain death. Carlos stepped closer towards Lewis, watching the scene unfold with stunned tension along with the rest of the group.

"He's just protecting what's his. We should go. It's alright."

K'Shai said to R'chnt, who finally eased back enough that K'Shai stepped right in front of him, completely unconcerned about the mighty alien's jagged metal blades inches away from her chest and abdomen.

The man and his wife, as well as Lewis and Carlos, jumped a little at the sudden sound of metal on metal clicking back into place as R'chnt retracted his wrist blades.

K'Shai did not so much as flinch; she simply stared calmly at R'chnt. She kept her hand on his arm, but looked to Lewis as she stepped off the man's porch.

"We should…. uhh…" she said to Lewis shakily. "We should find somewhere else to camp for the night." She turned back to the old man and his wife and lowered her head softly.

"We're sorry to have bothered you. We will leave."

Lewis eyed her wildly, but said nothing. He nodded and slowly started towards her as she finally eased her grip on R'chnt's arm completely.

R'chnt turned and headed back for the rest of his group in the distance, who K'Shai hadn't even noticed had already decloaked as well. She glanced to Lewis and the rest of the group, who clearly didn't know where to look first as their eyes shifted between herself and the aliens nearby.

"Wait!" The old man grumbled, his wife now wrapped completely around him with a tremendous hug.

He looked from the battered group of weary survivors, including the children and the injured to Cassandra and the giant lingering alien still just an arm's length from her, then back to Lewis.

"You can stay in the barn." He paused and his eyes tracked back to the alien group. " _Just_ for the night. That's it! One night!"

Cassandra smiled and Lewis nodded appreciatively. The human group did as they were invited and headed towards the barn in the near distance while Cassandra remained motionless near the Yautja.

Lewis and Carlos waited until everyone had passed by them on their way and turned to Cassandra. He eyed R'chnt warily, but looked back to her.

"Cassy, what the hell is going on?" He said firmly.

She gaped her mouth to answer, but couldn't produce any words. A small smile cracked her lips as she looked from Lewis to Carlos to the old man, still on the porch, still watching silently with his arm around his wife.

She tipped her chin slightly towards R'chnt, glancing at him through the edge of her eye and took a deep, tired breath.

"I will talk to you both in the morning." She said wearily.

Lewis shuffled slightly on the spot, clearly wanting to speak or protest, but he obviously had run into a lack of words. He opened his mouth and clenched his jaw tight again.

Cassandra turned and soon disappeared with R'chnt and the other hunters down a narrow path between two long crop fields, and ultimately came to a rest far away from the house and barn and human group, with the Yautja.

The hunters made a small camp and two set out to hunt down a source of food while the others tended to their own injuries around a bluish fire. K'Shai ate quietly, listened quietly to the stories and chatter the hunters had to share, but she found her mind wandering to thoughts of what had happened in the last twenty four hours to pondering the mysteries that tomorrow would bring.

R'chnt nudged her gently, offering her another chunk of cooked meat. The hunters found it a little unusual that K'Shai cooked her meat; it was not typical, although a few of the hunters were willing to try their food cooked, including R'chnt.

"Thank you," she said as she took a bit.

Before she took a bite, she turned her eyes away from the past and the unforeseen future, and looked at R'chnt as he finished his own portion. She smiled softly and leaned into him, kissing him along his cheek.

"Do you ever get scared?"

She whispered to him in English so no others could hear, or if they did, they would not understand anyway.

R'chnt spoke the language because he had learned it over many visits to Earth over centuries. Not all of the others had even been to Earth before, let alone learned any of the _ooman_ languages spoken on the planet.

He turned and looked at her, pricking one mandible in consideration of her words; a half a smile and shifted his position a little as he turned towards her more, speaking just loudly enough in his own tongue to allow the others to hear if they listened closely enough.

"Every living creature with more intelligence than a blade of grass feels fear, K'Shai. It is part of us all."

She clenched her jaw tightly. It was not the answer she was expecting.

She felt weak, tired, and had traveled endless miles by foot for more than year. She felt fearful constantly; she was frightened by what had already happened to her and fearful of what each new day would bring.

Although she was relaxed and at ease with R'chnt, she feared for herself and even for him when he was away. She had never seen R'chnt even so much as flinch a mandible in anything even remotely appearing to be a fearful response.

She had expected him to say fear was weak. She had expected him to pridefully admit to never being afraid.

"How do you…" she whispered, back to forming her words in a tongue so foreign she had to speak slowly to manage the proper sounds. "Do what you do? I've never seen you look fearful?"

"Fear is a powerful force, K'Shai. It keeps you sharp. It makes you quick. It makes you think, and stay aware. It can be your ally as well as your enemy."

"I guess it's just human nature. I just think about everything that's happened, and what's going to happen tomorrow. What's next?" K'Shai muttered quietly in exasperation.

"The path behind is gone. The path ahead is yet to be walked. Focus on neither or you will miss what is in front of you to see."

R'chnt spoke up, reminding not only K'Shai, but his entire group.

"It does a warrior no use to forget where his feet are now for where they were or where they will go."

She nodded quietly. His words made perfect sense.

R'chnt shifted closer to the fire and stirred it up a bit and continued on for another hour, talking of the great Path the Yautja Gods lay before each warrior, and reminding all of his group of the way a warrior's heart beat. R'chnt's words, as always, were true and powerful.

He had a deep spirituality that K'Shai had only just barely begun to understand a small portion of. He viewed the world in simple clarity that was in itself both a wisdom and wonder, easy to agree with, yet impossible to fully grasp.

As the night pressed on, K'Shai leaned against his muscular chest and R'chnt wrapped his arm around her.

She felt the warmth of his body and the power of his heart as it pounded in his chest. Soon she drifted off and slept for the longest and most recuperative sleep she had had in as long as she could remember.


	26. Chapter 25

**CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE**

Morning rolled around and K'Shai opened her eyes as the first light of dawn broke the horizon far in the distance. She smiled and pressed her lips together as she looked at R'chnt, resting peacefully next to her, flat on the ground, arm still wrapped over.

His warm body was soothing, and the rise and fall of his chest as he slept with her head on him offered a comforting rhythm to a peace she hadn't felt in some time.

She sat up and took a soft, relieved breath. K'Shai barely even remembered falling asleep, and she certainly could not remember when she had slept so well before.

It was a stark contrast to the many sleepless and uncomfortable nights that she had become accustomed to. As she sat up, R'chnt stirred and sat up, reaching for a flask of water from his armor and a piece of meat from next to the fire, both of which he offered to K'Shai first.

She stretched her arms and back towards the sky and held her breath for a moment as she looked around at the ten hunters all nearby, some asleep right near the fire, others on watch in the near distance.

No one seemed to even show the slightest amount of concern, curiosity, or apprehension at her presence. She was not quite sure exactly when that happened, but that morning seemed to K'Shai to be the first time she felt completely at ease with the Yautja and they with her.

K'Shai took a small bite of meat and a drink of water and smiled at R'chnt, silently wishing she hadn't simply just passed out asleep last night. She couldn't help but feel that certain things were not happening as she had hoped, but she forced those thoughts from her. She kissed R'chnt softly on the cheek, which did draw curious stares from the others.

K'Shai hadn't noticed as she slept that curious stares weren't heading her direction from just the Yautja. Lewis and Carlos, concerned and curious about their friend, had slipped down the path between the long overgrown crop fields and gleamed a view through a rifle scope of Cassandra sound asleep under the bright full moon light, leaned against the alien leader.

When she returned towards the human group later in the morning, she suddenly felt completely out of place as the group cast her mostly wide-eyed curious stares mixed in with a few disapproving glares. The old man of the house, who Cassandra quickly learned was named Albert, grumbled his way around their quasi-welcome visitors as his wife Nora fixed a real home cooked breakfast, the first in ages.

Farm fresh cooked eggs, freshly picked vegetables and carrot juice were arranged in bowls and pitchers on a picnic table between the house and the pond, and the main dish to complete the meal was freshly seared pork chops.

"Oh, this food is incredible."

"Thank you so much."

"Haven't eaten this well in weeks."

The group said through satisfied groans between bites. Albert nodded appreciatively, and then barked that the entire group was expected to fulfill chores before they departed with a sort of harsh love grandfatherly tone.

"So, are you going to want to bring any food to your friends there, Pocahontas?"

Cassandra glared at the old man and suddenly felt certain her entire face had turned beet red. She pressed her lips together and gave a wide eyed stare to Lewis, Carlos, Albert and a few other curious faces who turned her way as she stood nearby, scanning the food spread on the table.

"I just thought I would help …. with the dishes…" she said hurriedly and grabbed up all the used plates she possibly could as quickly and feverishly as possible and scurried into the house to start washing them.

Nora walked in a short time later, a gentle, distant smile on her face and without a word began to help with the dishes.

"We've lived in this home for sixty-two years. It was Al's parents' home and this is where I waited for him to come back from the war." She smiled reminiscently and continued. "I was your age, you know. All that fighting and death and the waiting…."

Cassandra swallowed and bit her lip, having a very good idea where the conversation was headed. She took a deep breath and held it.

"All I could think about was Al, and being with him again. He was sent home after being shot." She glanced to Cassandra who cast a concerned look, but Nora smiled. "Oh, he was a strong and stubborn ox. He pulled through and came home. We got married two days later, cast and all. Right there…" She pointed off the porch towards the pond and a large walnut tree.

"This is where we raised our children. Oh the birthday parties and good times we've had….."

Her voice trailed off and Cassandra smiled politely, placing another dish in the drying rack next to the sink.

"Why didn't you leave?" She asked.

"Leave? Here?" Nora looked absolutely shocked at the very notion.

"Dear, this is our home. Love made this house into a home. We can't just leave it. We'll be here until we die, and we will _love_ each other until we die. It hasn't always been easy." She laughed lightly. "There have been _so_ many challenges along the way. It was far from easy, but _love is love_."

Cassandra bit her lower lip and clenched her jaw, staring at Nora in lost thought. She nodded appreciatively.

"Thank you…" Cassandra paused, "uhh… for letting the group stay here for the night. I truly hope you and your husband the best."

Nora smiled softly, an accepting look on her face. It was a look that said she knew they would probably die together in that home, but whatever the risks, she had accepted their fate.

Able members of the group assisted Albert in all the farm and home chores he asked for; repayment for a roof over their heads and a meal in their belly. As the afternoon moved in, they were bid farewell and soon, Cassandra, Lewis, Carlos, and the others headed on towards a source of supplies and a camping hideout once again.

The migratory journey had become a familiar thing. Every member of the group, from the youngest to the oldest, all understood the need to travel, to continue to scavenge for resources and a place to live.

There was no concept of 'home' anymore like Albert and Nora clearly clinged to. Supporting two people was a different story, of course, than supporting a group, and necessitated different requirements.

As they walked on one more time towards an unknown city in the unknown distance, Lewis and Carlos, who remained close to Cassandra as R'chnt and the other Yautja disappeared entirely to hunt and secure their surroundings, stayed awkwardly quiet once again, but the lingering questions on their minds were obvious in their expressions every time they glanced at Cassandra.

She remained silent as well, for the longest time, but she had told Lewis and Carlos she would talk to them today, and she intended to do so.

She kept trying to come up with an easy way to start a challenging conversation, but at every rest stop, she found herself only looking off towards the distance, past trees and buildings and fields and homes, scanning for R'chnt silently instead.

"We'll make camp up ahead," Lewis called out to the group, noting a sign for a small city just two miles away.

The afternoon was moving fast, and the short days made for a quickly setting sun on the horizon. They hadn't heard a single sound of any drones since the morning before, but moving through unknown locations during the night was never a good idea.

"We should talk," Cassandra finally said a short while into the final stretch of the journey for the night.

"I think we definitely should," Lewis agreed. "But, Cassy. Obviously, _whatever_ 's been going on has been going on for a while. Am I right?"

She silently nodded as Carlos looked on. They walked separated from the group slightly, and kept their voices to a minimum so they would not be overheard.

"Well, when you want to talk to us about this, then you will." Lewis continued.

Cassandra nodded and smiled, dropping her eyes to the road for a moment.

"Just…just… be O.K. Alright? I mean… just don't get hurt." He added in after a brief silence.

She stayed quiet but offered him a gracious smile.

They arrived at the edge of the next city and slowed down, walking silently through several blocks not far from a river, and they scanned the nearby buildings surrounding them.

All seemed quiet and without straying too far in the quickly darkening evening, Lewis and a few others began to peer in some of the long abandoned buildings, mostly warehouses.

"There's a hotel up a ways'," someone pointed out a sign with an arrow directing the way. "Be real nice to spend the night in a real bed."

Lewis nodded and pulled away from the locked door of a warehouse he had just tried to force open. The group walked a short distance and crossed through the parking lot across the road and headed down the street in the direction of the arrow when movement caught their attention.

"Well, now this is a problem…" a voice called, cackling, from somewhere ahead in the dark.

A gang of men slowly appeared, each one heavily armed, black clad, and all looking beat up and worn. They smirked and staggered as their ring leader smiled superiorly and aimed his shotgun.

"You see, we're grateful for the presents," he said, licking his lips and making a kissing gesture towards two of the women in the group. "But we don't really take all that well to outsiders in our turf."

"Your _turf_?" Lewis questioned sharply and the man turned his gun towards him.

"Yea, that's right. Our _turf_."

Cassandra and several others raised their weapons and nearly three dozen of the gang's members did the same, quickly encroaching on the group. She held her breath for a tense moment as she realized the leader of the group's gaze suddenly turned towards her and her alien weapon.

He tipped his head and snorted.

"Now where did you get that, you pretty little thing?"

K'Shai firmed her gaze and grumbled at him through gritted teeth.

"Stay the hell away from us."

"Oh! Meow! She's got teeth this one!" The gang leader laughed. Some of his group joined him.

"Alright, look. We're all on the same side here, OK." A man next to Lewis said, stepping forward with his palms spread. "We're not your enemy. We have injured and kids here."

Suddenly one of the gang landed a hard punch into the man's abdomen and another grabbed and slammed him to the ground. The scene erupted and gun fire rang out, sending the injured and unarmed scrambling. Cassandra held her ground but fired a shot into the air which drew everyone's attention.

"Stop! Just stop!" Lewis demanded loudly. "You're outnumbered. Don't make us kill you."

The leader of the gang laughed and Lewis glanced to Cassandra with almost a questioning look in his eye. Cassandra quickly shook her head. The Yautja were nowhere around, if that was the 'outnumbered' that Lewis was referring to.

"Not from where I'm standing. We're better armed, we have more people, and you have injured and kids." The gang leader mocked.

Cassandra swallowed and kept her eyes and weapon firmly locked on the man, who was right. Lewis could see her nervously twitching the trigger of the alien rifle and he stepped slowly away, out of the range of fire.

"I'll tell you what… we'll barter, how's that?" The man said.

Lewis stayed silent and glared at him. Cassandra could only imagine, by the hungry look the gang leader shot towards two other women not far from her side, what he was going to expect in return for safe passage. Her finger tightened on the trigger.

"You give us the women and _that weapon_ and we'll kill the rest of you quickly. Just a bullet to the head; nice and painless." He said as he pressed two fingers to his own forehead.

"Go to hell," Lewis said before he even let the man say another word.

Once again, gun fire started up, a fight broke out. Cassandra aimed to take a shot, but Lewis was too near, too in the way. She couldn't fire without hitting him. A scream from behind her caught her attention and she whipped around to see several of the gang members attacking and grabbing at the two women and the youngest girl in the group, ten year old Kelly. She howled for her mother, tears in her eyes, and the men that grabbed her laughed and hit at people around her trying to help.

Cassandra shouted and took one shot. She fired her plasma caster not towards any of the men. She knew at best, she would get off one shot before she had any number of men grappling her down.

She had a fraction of a second to put the shot where she hoped it would do the most good. She raised her arm and fired straight into the air; a signal.

Her abdomen quickly met the hard slam of a rifle butt. She collapsed to the ground barely able to breathe and before she could react, two men were on top of her. She covered her face after someone hit her across the jaw.

She could hear screaming, she could taste blood and she could barely breathe. It seemed like the world has stopped moving for a moment. She saw Lewis on the ground, and she wasn't exactly sure what else was going on around her.

He glanced to her and she looked from him to the rooftops and buildings around them, grimacing and wincing from the pain as she was yanked off the ground and dragged away.

Her whole body shook with an intense fear she hadn't quiet experienced before. The bugs, the alien animals as they were, had left her cowering in paralyzing fear more times than she could recall, but now, as she was dragged away to a fate that she desperately tried not to imagine, she suddenly realized a whole type of fear of a different kind of creature that she had never experienced before.

Just before she and five other restrained females from the group, including the young girl, were dragged inside a dark warehouse loading dock door, she glanced again to the empty building tops, unable to stop tears from welling up in her eyes.

She was sore from being hit across the face and in the stomach, but she still struggled as best as she could against the wildly cackling man who gripped her so tightly by her arms she felt like she was going to lose circulation. She could barely focus on what was going on around her as panic set in, but she did hear cries and wails of the other girls near her, all also being dragged to the same fate.

In a few exhausting minutes, Cassandra found herself being forcibly shoved against a cold, dirty, concrete floor in a basement level windowless, dark storage room. A battery powered camping lantern was the only light source in the barren walled room, and a rancid stench filled her nostrils.

She was quickly followed into the room by three more men and two equally frightened women, Nancy and her ten year old daughter, Kelly.

It was like a blur to Cassandra how things had gone so wrong so quickly. There had been a gunfire exchange, that much she was certain of, but what had happened to the rest of the group, to the injured that weren't able to fight, or to the men that were willing to, she couldn't be sure.

She focused her eyes through the dark in the large empty room and watched the others being tied and restrained in the same way, by nothing more than zip ties, to open piping in the room. Kelly wailed in a high pitched shriek as her mother continually tried to soothe her through her own shaky voice, telling her to keep her eyes closed.

"Oh, don't close your eyes, little girl. You ever seen a dick before? You're gonna' be in for a… whole new experience."

The gang's leader said to her slowly, with a sickening brimming smile on his face as he stroked the girl's cheek.

"Get the hell away from her you bastard," Cassandra growled, taking a deep breath as her heart began to pound with anger as well as fear.

The four men in the room laughed and all turned their heads towards her. Cassandra stood shakily, hands behind her back and strapped together behind a pipe. She clenched her jaw, scanned the doorway to the room one last time as one man closed it. R'chnt was nowhere to be seen or heard.

She shook on the spot, her mind running rampant with thoughts of where the next few minutes were going to lead as the leader of the group pulled out a large knife and waved it in front of her.

"This one's got spice." He said laughing superiorly as he stood inches away from Cassandra and stared down her shirt which he immediately cut apart and removed from her, along with her bra.

Cassandra stifled a cry as the man groped her with a satisfied smile on his face while Nancy looked on in horror, unable to comfort her daughter who was restrained, still crying, several feet away.

"Spice is nice, right boys?" The man laughed and taunted, immediately reaching his hand down the front of Cassandra's jeans.

She screamed and kicked, slamming to the ground as she lost her balance trying to support herself against the pipework with her restrained hands. The plastic ties cut into her wrists as she struggled and she suddenly felt winded as she landed hard on her back and aggravated the bang to her stomach from the rifle butt.

The men cackled and howled and the gang leader moved in to her, knife at the ready while another man pulled off her boots as another pressed her down on the ground while Cassandra cried and howled with rage and fear as she struggled against her assailants.

"Better watch it there, sugar. I might end up shoving other than my dick in you first!"

The gang leader taunted as he waved the large knife near her and began to cut into her jeans, laughing and howling before he pulled them off of her completely and groped her.

Cassandra kicked at the two men holding her down, screaming at the top of her lungs, fighting feverishly against what was happening to her as her face filled with tears and turned red with rage. The men cursed at her and one of them struck her hard against the shoulder, bashing his fist into her with so much force that Cassandra's neck whipped backward and her head banged into the pole she was attached to.

She couldn't help but to glance around the room again, scanning the darkness, the walls, the closed door. For a moment as she regained herself, she could hear screams of people echoing from somewhere outside, but she wasn't sure where they were coming from, or whose screams they were.

"Oh, finally, quieted down, that's nice." The gang leader said as Cassandra clenched her jaw and glared at him.

He sneered over and unclasped his belt and lowered his pants.

"Sorry boys, this bitch is mine first. You guys can your fun with her next."

"I'm not for you," Cassandra said firmly, quietly, despite her shaking voice. "R'chnt will come."

The man laughed and the two others nearby looked at her curiously. Cassandra didn't notice the wide eyed stares Nancy and Kelly shot her.

"What was that?" The man laughed casually as though he hadn't heard her.

"R'chnt will come." She responded more firmly. "I am not for you."

She repeated her words three more times in case the man didn't hear the first time. He sneered and laughed and joked to his group.

He lunged for her, leaning his naked lower body over her, and grabbed her hair, ripping her head backwards, and pressing his face right into hers.

"I don't know what the hell a R'chnt is, but when he comes, I'll fuck him over, too." He whispered.

Cassandra shook violently as the man forced his knees between hers, laughing and calling out to the others.

"Take note, now, and watch the show, cause you're both next, too." He said towards Nancy and her young daughter. Nany cried and pleaded to her terrified young daughter to just keep her eyes closed and turn away.

Cassandra screamed and kneed the man hard in the face one more time, shouting as loudly as her terrified voice would allow as she broke into tears again.

"I am not for you! R'chnt will come!"

"Alright, I've had about enough of you! Too much damned fight." The man growled as he grabbed her knees hard. "Never had one as wild as you."

He slammed the knife angrily down into her thigh and pinned her to the ground. The knife tore through her skin and muscle and she could feel her own warm blood pouring out of her. She screamed horribly and felt weak and queasy.

She could barely keep her eyes open or really comprehend her surroundings. She thought she heard a door slam, a man scream. She saw the man on top of her coming towards her, inches away from entering her. She was certain she heard R'chnt's familiar growl, although in a tone more angered than perhaps she had ever heard before.

She felt the space around her body clear and she opened her eyes enough to see the man forcibly flung across the wide room. She did not notice the other two Yautja in the room with R'chnt or the two of the four men already slain.

She heard R'chnt direct W'rsa to cut loose the other two human females and shut her eyes again as R'chnt rounded on her and knelt beside her as a weak smile etched on her lips.

Lewis and Carlos ran to the doorway and pulled to a dead halt as they surveyed the bodies and saw R'chnt kneeling next to Cassandra, cutting her hands free from their bindings as Nancy's boyfriend ran into the room, past the three Yautja hunters, and grabbed her and Kelly and escorted them out as they cried and whimpered with shock and fright.

K'Shai gripped tightly around R'chnt's strong, wide shoulders and held onto him, breaking down and crying wildly for several long moments as all the others stood watching in silence, including two of the gang members, one still pantless as he pulled himself off the ground and glared around, bleeding from the back of his head from the impact after a forceful throw.

Two Yautja lingering nearby assured that the two men awaited R'chnt's punishment.

"I knew you would come," K'Shai cried to R'chnt through her tears over and over again as she clinged to him.

After a moment, R'chnt glanced towards W'rsa and indicated subtly with his head for him to approach and assist.

"This _is_ going to hurt, K'Shai." R'chnt warned. "We have to get this out of you."

Carlos inched forward into the room, lingering a dozen feet away from the two working Yautja as they methodically pulled the knife from Cassandra's thigh and sealed the wound with a substance he did not recognize.

K'Shai wailed in agony as the knife was removed and the wound was cauterized. She barely managed to stay conscious as R'chnt lifted her carefully and removed her from the room.

He carried her a short distance down the unlit corridor beyond the room and stopped, delicately placing her back on the floor as he tried to peel himself out from under her tight grip. She took a ragged breath and eyed him widely, trying to control her sobs and wrestle away the pain and fear.

"I thought he was going to…." She sobbed softly, in barely a whisper as Lewis, Carlos and a few aghast onlookers approached her carefully, straining to try to understand the words she spoke in a language they could not possibly recognize.

"I'm so glad you came when you did. I knew you would come."

R'chnt caressed her face with his palm and tipped his head, surveying her body's injuries. He glanced up towards Carlos, who dared to get close enough, and seemed to understand R'chnt's intentions and direction even despite the expressionless mask he wore.

Carlos hopped over towards Cassandra with a spring, as though he had just been screamed at to come forward. Lewis quickly followed and the two neared Cassandra warily. Lewis pulled his jacket off and moved in to put it over her naked body.

"Remain here with your friends, K'Shai, for just a moment. I will return shortly." R'chnt whispered to her.

He tried to pull himself up, but it took him several efforts to get her to release her frightened grip on his shoulder and arm before he stood tall in the dark hallway and moved past Lewis and Carlos with a deep growl emanating from under his sleek, damaged helmet.

"Here, Cassy," Lewis whispered as he covered her with his jacket.

She smiled gratefully at him and glanced around to see Nancy and Kelly, still filled with tears, staring at her from a close distance, unable to speak.

Carlos looked over Cassandra's bruises and gently touched the cauterized wound on her thigh.

"Does this hurt?"

"Incredibly…" K'Shai whispered as she squeezed her eyes shut for a moment.

She flinched suddenly and opened her eyes widely as Carlos, Lewis, and the others in the hallway all looked back towards the doorway to the room, where a horrific series of screams and pleas and crying and begging rang out for several long moments.

Curious spectators, including Lewis, carefully tiptoed back towards the door, which was not closed, and peered into the dimly lit room, seeing what they could in the eerie haze cast off by the weak lantern. Nancy quickly ushered her daughter out of the hallway completely and up the nearby stairs to the upper level.

The screaming and crying seemed to go on forever, and K'Shai could feel her heart pounding. She clenched her jaw tightly and tried to subdue the anger boiling in her.

Sickened groans and curses from the onlookers in the hallway told her all that she needed to know about what was going on in the room.

She had no doubts that the two men were being skinned alive, undoubtedly with some element of mutilation like chopping off the offending extremity beforehand. She felt no sympathy and for the briefest flicker of a moment she wasn't sure if that was right, wrong, or indicative of something else entirely, she just wanted R'chnt to return to her.

"Jesus…" Carlos muttered as the screams from the room finally died down into a muted gurgling sound before silencing completely.

For a few moments, the eerie silence filled the corridor as no one moved or even breathed before R'chnt reappeared, followed by W'rsa and rejoined by four other Yautja in the hallway, three of whom had been directed to help the remaining women in another room.

Lewis eyed R'chnt warily and noticed gobs of blood and tissue dripping off his wrist blades as they retracted into their shielded housing on his right forearm. R'chnt made an obvious effort to wipe away the blood from his hands with a rag he picked up on his way out of the room before heading to Cassandra's side.

He returned to K'Shai who greeted him with a small, tired smile. Carlos quickly moved out of his way as R'chnt approached, making a noise that he couldn't tell if it was a growl or words.

Cassandra seemed to understand, though, he thought. She remained silent but nodded graciously to him as he lifted her up and carried her through the building along with the rest of his group and Lewis, Carlos and the other stunned humans as they all reunited outside of the building in the parking lot.

The groups moved on, only covering a short distance before they found a suitable location to accommodate both parties and camp for the remaining hours of the night. R'chnt never let Cassandra out of his grip, and she had long since fallen asleep in his arms by the time they all settled into a nearby building.

Lewis and Carlos hovered nearby, sitting with their backs against an opposite wall and eyeing Cassandra wrapped up in the arms of the vicious alien hunter, sound asleep. A short while after securing the area and searching for any useful supplies, Kelly and her mother Nancy appeared from an adjacent corridor with a blanket in her arms.

They walked delicately over to R'chnt, who had removed his mask and was busy cleaning the blood off his wrist blades with a handheld laser, his arms fully engulfing Cassandra as she slept against him.

He looked up watching the two females approaching him and noticing as they did that several nearby onlookers took to their feet, apparently warily apprehensive about their close proximity to the on guard alien.

Nancy eyed the alien as he looked at her and traced her gazed down to Cassandra's head against his chest. She smiled softly and spoke in a whisper so quietly that Lewis and Carlos held their breath and strained their ears to hear her words.

"I don't know if you can understand me…." Nancy visibly shook on the spot as she spoke to the silent alien who merely watched her. She glanced down to her daughter next to her and back to the seven and half foot tall alien leader.

"…but you saved my daughter and me. And I can't thank you enough. I had no idea how she felt about you." Nancy continued, glancing to Cassandra.

"She kept saying you would come. She never stopped saying you would come."

As she started to cry, her boyfriend strode over to her and put his hands on her shoulders. Nancy wiped away a tear and then realized she had the blanket still in her hands.

Without hesitation, she walked over to the alien and sleeping Cassandra and put the blanket over her body. She eyed the alien leader one more time, offering him a thin, awkward smile and walked away.

Barely a few feet from them, Kelly suddenly turned back, breaking her grip free from her mother's hand and without any reluctance, she strode confidently over to the alien leader and wrapped her arms around his neck, barely reaching her small frame around him.

"Thank you," she said to him from a child's hug.

R'chnt held still and stiff, apprehensively rigid and eyeing the humans nearby who simply stared in gape-jawed amazement.

Kelly's elbow nudged Cassandra's head as she moved her arm around R'chnt's neck, which roused her from her sleep.

K'Shai smiled widely, feeling more rested. Although she wasn't sure how long she had even been out, there was a definite comfort she found from sleeping tucked into R'chnt that made her rest easy. She patted Kelly's back and the girl turned to her.

"Are you OK?" She whispered to Kelly and embraced her, pulling her away from the clearly uncomfortable R'chnt. It was a look that perhaps only K'Shai could recognize, but to her, his apprehension was just as clear as was the onlooking humans'.

Kelly nodded and Cassandra released her and offered her a small smile.

"OK, go back to your mom, now, alright?"

As the girl ran off, K'Shai couldn't help but to offer R'chnt an amused and grateful smile, as she lowered her eyes respectfully to him. She glanced around and caught Lewis and Carlos' amazed stares.

One of the Yautja nearby, also looking on in silently tense amazement, audibly questioned R'chnt's apparent gravitational pull on human females, and the Yautja group, including K'Shai, had a good chuckle.

He wrapped his arm back around K'Shai and she reached her own arms around him, kissing him firmly on his lower jaw, and whispering in his ear words that Lewis could not hear nor understand.

After hours of much needed rest, morning light surrounded the group as they took, slowly, to the streets once again, moving on to a new location to find a place to camp.

Cassandra kept up with the human group, walking painfully on a sore leg that offered no relief. Carlos tended to her needs as best he could. The hunters splayed out in a wide formation, sometimes blocks away, cloaked and well out of sight, surveying their surroundings and checking miles of terrain for signs of the alien animals.

Lewis walked carefully near Cassandra, trying hard to make sure he didn't appear to be too close to her, out of sheer nerves.

He and Cassandra shared a few, brief, and awkward conversations, in which she assured him multiple times that R'chnt would not harm either he or Carlos. K'Shai wanted to talk to her dear friend more about R'chnt, but she found it far more difficult to find words than she had thought.

What she had been carefully tiptoeing around secretively for months keeping silent, had now suddenly turned into common knowledge and she felt as though she was surrounded by unwanted gossip and wayward stares.

As the afternoon dwindled down and the group made their way into an apartment complex, Cassandra separated completely from the human population and spent a few final moments with R'chnt before he left to continue the hunt.

Alone, she rested in an apartment, listening to the sounds of the rest of the group in the hallways and the neighboring units when a knock on the door caught her attention.

Lewis and Carlos appeared inside the room before she could even get up off the sofa near the window she was staring out, surveying the night. They both clearly glanced around the apartment immediately looking for any company.

K'Shai smiled at them as Carlos tended to her injuries again while an awkward conversation followed. It was obvious to K'Shai that her friends were doing the best they could to try to process, and even accept, the most unusual situation that was presented to them.

The days ticked by slowly. K'Shai's bruises turned a variety of colors before they began to slowly disappear. Her leg eventually stopped hurting so much. The cauterizing agent, heavily diluted for use on her far more delicate skin, ensured that she would neither bleed to death nor get any infection, but it did not stop the pain.

She limped around as the days passed, but slowly the pain began to dissipate. She found herself refraining from keeping the company of the rest of the group for the most part. At meal time, she would take a plate and leave, to keep watch elsewhere.

She spent most of the days and well into the night both recuperating from her injuries and keeping watch. Lewis and Carlos seemed wholly unsure of what exactly to say to her, making for uncomfortable silences.

Five days passed slowly and there remained no sign on R'chnt or the rest of his group. It was sometime in the latest hours of the daylight that Lewis and Carlos found Cassandra on the roof of the apartment building, silently keeping watch all around the area as far as she could see.

"Not hungry?" Lewis asked, noting her uneaten food on a plate next to her.

Cassandra flinched slightly at the sudden break in the silence and looked up at him with a soft smile.

"No, I guess not. I had enough. You want to finish it?" She offered him what was left of her food, which he took, but did not eat.

"Quiet up here." He said blankly. "Been quiet all week. No sign of… of anything."

Cassandra remained motionless, staring into the setting darkness.

"No, nothing." She muttered finally after a brief silence.

Lewis crouched next to her and propped a hand on her shoulder. He took a deep sigh and watched her watching the streets, the buildings, the distances near and far, certain she was not looking for any bugs.

"Do you… uh…" he started to ask, through an uncertain voice. "Do you know…where he is?"

Cassandra shook her head slowly.

"You don't have a way to contact him?"

She remained quiet and Lewis considered that for moment.

"How do they manage to find us? How did he get to…. you in time?"

She glanced at him, her lips pressed together in a wide smile.

"Because he's a hunter." She responded certainly.

Lewis nodded and released a deep breath, smiling courteously. It was obvious to K'Shai that his mind with churning with unanswered questions he didn't even know how to ask.

She imagined she knew what those questions were, without a doubt. Lewis would want to know exactly what was going on, and for how long it had been happening at the very least.

She filled him in on most of the details in the cool autumn night, as Carlos eventually joined them. They talked for a long while until finally K'Shai parted ways and returned to her claimed apartment to get some rest as another night with no sign of R'chnt passed on.

Around an hour before the sun came up, the sky was still dark outside and K'Shai heard a definite sound from somewhere in the close distance of the quiet apartment.

She opened her eyes and warily peered around the room as she sat up, holding her breath to hear the ever so slight shuffling sound when her eyes caught a slight hint of glowing green blood moving towards her.

She gasped and pulled to her feet, darting over to R'chnt's side as he dragged his way towards her, exhausted, weak, bleeding, and injured. She only just noticed a few other Yautja moving up the fire escape outside the windows, no doubt headed to the roof to rest and recover away from human eyes.

R'chnt and K'Shai found their way to the bed and he removed some of his armor so he could lay more comfortably. K'Shai helped him, clearly noting he was having difficulty breathing.

His wounds were still oozing some blood, although they had obviously been cared for previously. She looked him over warily and kissed him gently, watching him fall asleep in a few minutes with barely a spoken word to her.

He caressed her and offered her a smile and briefly told her through a whispering voice of the recent battle before he fell asleep.

K'Shai curled into him, careful to avoid his injuries. She managed a couple more hours sleep resting against his warm body, and woke up sometime after sunrise.

She sat on the bed next to him, watching him sleep, noticing how weary he appeared to her as his chest heaved with each raspy breath. She had not known him to sleep so deeply, as he seemed to always be on edge and have a keen awareness about his surroundings.

She watched him sleep and listened to him breathe. She didn't even hear the light knock on the door, but looked up when she saw the door opening and Lewis and Carlos stepping through, surprised looks on their faces as they glanced down the very short hallway into the bedroom and saw R'chnt lying motionless in the morning light.

She slowly pulled off the bed, trying not to disturb him and headed over to greet her friends.

"Sorry, I didn't…. I swear I knocked." Lewis started.

"Just came to take care of your leg," Carlos added in as though he needed to have validation for why they were there.

She waved dismissively and gestured to lower their voices.

"He just came back a couple hours ago." She whispered. "I've never seen him so exhausted. He's hurt. He didn't sleep at all for almost six days."

"They can do that?" Lewis asked with surprise.

K'Shai shot him a wide eyed glance and shook her head, clearly suggesting that it was far beyond normal exertion levels for him to stay awake for so many days straight.

"Is there… maybe something I can do to help him?" Carlos asked softly, glancing between K'Shai and R'chnt.

She shrugged and whispered uncertainly. "I don't...know…if he'll… let you."

Hearing the voices perhaps, or just rested enough for now, R'chnt stirred and sat up, grunting with the exertion. K'Shai returned to him and carefully asked him to let Carlos look him over, which he promptly rejected.

"I've had broken ribs before. I'll be fine."

K'Shai pressed her lips together in a contemplating smile and glanced back to Carlos. She could feel her

nerves tingling. It was difficult, she knew, for her closest and dearest friends to accept what was happening right before their eyes.

As she thought about it, although the friendship she had with R'chnt had taken months to build before it turned into something far more complex, Lewis and Carlos were just being hit with it all right at once.

She imagined if she was in their shoes, she would be reluctant and wary, too. She imagined it was a lot to absorb and could barely envision how unusual the sight of the two of them together must have been.

Carlos' offer was both an engrained nature in him and his way of demonstrating an acceptance of a most unusual situation.

R'chnt heaved again as he breathed deeply against the pain in his chest. K'Shai gazed at him and wrapped her arms gently over his shoulders, leaning in to him softly.

She whispered to him words Lewis and Carlos could not hear, but they watched as R'chnt pulled his upper mandibles apart into what they could only just barely assume was a smile as he spoke to her in his deep, resounding voice, and touched her face.

She smiled lightly and R'chnt lowered his gaze in an apparent nod. K'Shai glanced over to Carlos and waved him and Lewis forward. They approached reluctantly.

Carlos, obviously apprehensive, neared R'chnt and pulled his stethoscope free from under his shirt and cleared his throat as he awkwardly greeted the massive alien, while K'Shai smiled, half amused and half concerned.

Lewis nudged her elbow and caught her attention and whispered softly.

"Hey, he's not..uh…" he didn't finish the sentence, but he indicated to his own chest in an exploding manner with his hands. The gesture was well understood.

K'Shai shook her head quickly as Carlos reached to R'chnt's bruised and battered right side and palpated his thick skin with his fingers and reached the stethoscope across his back. R'chnt took and held a deep breath, holding back a grunt of discomfort.

"He's definitely got broken ribs. Three, maybe four breaks as far as I can tell." Carlos confirmed before K'Shai had a chance to speak.

"Can he understand us?" Lewis whispered, trying to hide his voice from R'chnt's keen ears.

K'Shai nodded as she watched R'chnt silently look between her and the two human males, clearly as uncomfortable with the situation as they were.

"Wait a minute, what's this?" Carlos pondered aloud.

He took a deeper look at one wound on R'chnt's back, and fished around through his medical case for an instrument. Carlos suddenly appeared more comfortable with the situation, and leaned in close to R'chnt.

Perhaps he was just distracted by the injury he was evaluating, K'Shai wasn't sure but he began to insert forceps into the wound on R'chnt's back, reopening an injury that was clearly trying to heal, while apologizing to the alien for the discomfort he was causing.

Carlos concentrated on evaluating the injury while trying not to cause too much pain to the alien Leader for fear of undesirable consequences. He pushed the forceps further into R'chnt's injury, through the skin and muscle and tissue, and grimaced with a perplexed hum before pulling the forceps slowly out.

K'Shai gaped her mouth in startled amazement as Lewis mumbled a soft curse under his breath. Carlos tilted his head and smiled in disbelief.

"Well that has got to feel better, at least." He said confidently.

Almost immediately R'chnt took a stronger breath and K'Shai reached for the end of Carlos' forceps. She grasped in her hand a long, gnarled, sharp, and broken off finger from a drone bug.

She held it up and looked at it and shook her head softly in amazement as she handed the snapped off extremity to R'chnt who muttered a surprised curse.

K'Shai smiled and in a few minutes longer, she saw her friends out.

"Thank you, Carlos." She said softly and offered Lewis a supportive squeeze on his arm.

K'Shai returned to R'chnt and after a short time, the pair rejoined the Yautja group on the rooftop where they shared a meal as the entire group, all battered and worn, rested.


	27. Chapter 26

**CHAPTER TWENTY SIX**

Somehow, although she was not exactly sure when the transition happened, K'Shai noticed that the Yautja group had simply become accepting of her presence more so than they had ever before.

R'chnt's hunt group was comprised of fellow clan members he had known and hunted with many times before, some even for many decades.

There was an unspoken respect reflected in the glance of an eye or the shifting of a shoulder, and while K'Shai herself had slowly begun to feel more at ease amongst eight of the more than two meter tall hunters, it seemed to her, that as the entire group, all weary and in need of recuperating, sat and talked, ate, and told stories on the roof top during that fall afternoon with the sun shining down upon them, the separation between them and her was simply gone.

Whether or not they thought R'chnt had lost his mind keeping in such company with a human, she did not know. She did know that his group had been with him long enough, and respected or feared him enough, to know better than to challenge him or question his decisions.

She knew some of the other Yautja were curious about her beyond understanding cultural differences, but they all knew there was no question that K'Shai was R'chnt's. The rest of the group knew what R'chnt's intentions were with her, and had certainly figured out that K'Shai reciprocated them, and while they might have silently questioned his senility for his decision, they knew better than to challenge his position as Leader, so they accepted her.

She sat with R'chnt and listened to the Yautja stories all day long, which varied in subject matter from the most recent hive hunt and the injuries it spurred, to tales of past hunts and conquests of females from some of the other members of the hunting pack.

K'Shai couldn't help but to think that some of the males were perhaps actually trying to impress her with their tales, which only spurred her to inch into more physical contact with R'chnt, who welcomed it. Thoughts of the last two, interrupted, times she had spent with him played on her mind as she found herself studying his body and his injuries and wondering how fit he was for strong exertions.

As the hours of the day dwindled into darkness and R'chnt and K'Shai watched a storm move in over the terrain, she did notice that he seemed stronger, more rested, and quite keen himself on keeping in physical contact with her.

She smiled invitingly at him as he moved against her while they sat near the edge of the rooftop, staring off towards the horizon as the sky and clouds lit up like an orange blanket of fire that quickly turned to blackness.

She turned to him and put her hands upon his strong chest, allowing the warmth of his body to absorb into her as she took in the textured feel of his thick skin.

Her eyes shifted slightly to the dispersing group of Yautja across the roof top and she pressed her lips together coyly as she eyed R'chnt again and leaned into him, firmly and excitedly wrapping her arms around his shoulders as she put her face against his and whispered to him.

Without delay the pair stood and returned to the apartment unit two floors down via the fire escape. K'Shai smiled widely as she felt her body surge with excitement when R'chnt grabbed hold of her barely into the room.

She pressed herself against him and he lifted her off the ground with one arm under her butt, his fingers wrapped firmly around her hip and over her thigh. K'Shai moaned with delight and pressed her lips against his skin along his chin and along his jaw as he tipped his head back and groaned and clicked with arousal.

She kissed his chin as low as she could to his neck before his protective gear covered his skin, and lowered her head more to kiss him along his mighty chest as she rubbed her hands around his strong muscles.

"Finally alone," K'Shai whispered to him softly as a smile filled her face and she rubbed her hands along his chest, unbuckling his armor feverishly.

She scanned the leader's body with her eyes, glancing at his belt that covered his groin, and raising her eyes again, tracing out his body. She put her hands on his shoulders and tried to fidget with the armor he wore. She wanted it off.

She wanted to see and feel him in all his glory, and not leave anything to the imagination. She wanted to know and feel and kiss and lick every detail of his body.

R'chnt paused as he watched her fumble to remove the armor that covered his shoulders and arms. It was clear to him, no doubt, that she had no idea how the intricate system was linked together, and she could not remove his coverings.

He ticked his mandibles together, creating an intriguing sound, and he raised his hand to his own armor, helping her see how the shielding would come off.

He started to take away the armor, and Cassandra eagerly reached her hands forward to help him make quick work of it. In a moment, both of his shoulders, the remainder of his chest and his entire back were exposed to the skin.

Cassandra patted the gauntlets on the leader's arms and he removed them without delay.

With a groan, K'Shai placed her hands on his chest and caressed his body, feeling every part of his exposed skin. Her fingers traced over the scars of some recent injuries that he had suffered.

She paused and watched her hand outline the wounds, and for a moment, her thoughts focused back onto the battle that they were all involved in, fighting for their lives. He reached his hands to hers and moved them away from his injuries, eyeing her as though to say 'don't stop'.

He panted a deep breath and she smiled, moving her attention to his body once more.

She pressed her lips into his body and kissed and licked his chest, over his muscular torso, over his shoulders, down his arms, and back across his body. She smiled widely at him as she thrust herself upon him once more.

Closing her eyes, she continued to lick and kiss him as she lowered herself on top of him. He moaned eagerly and wrapped his arms around her. Lowering his head to her body, he tickled her breasts with his mandibles as the large teeth that capped them gently brushed against her soft skin.

R'chnt ticked and growled and allowed his protective body armor to clatter loudly to the ground. Upon her request, he put K'Shai back to her feet and she started towards the bed. She smiled wantonly at him and he locked his eyes onto hers. She could feel her body shaking as she bit her lower lip and succumbed to the rush of feelings that swept over her.

She pulled off her shirt and pants slowly as she tempted R'chnt to follow her as she slid onto the bed on her knees and for a moment, held her breath while she scanned the room with her eyes, surveying their surroundings as if to verify that they really were alone for a long enough while.

Her heart pounded in her chest and she suddenly began to tremble with nerves and excitement as R'chnt crawled on top of her while thunder began to clap in the near distance.

He nudged against her bare chest with his powerful jaws and raised his head along her body as she heaved heavily and pressed her lips against his face, whimpering softly with excitement as she felt her body throb, tremble, and heat up.

She groped his jaws and cheekbones with her tongue and lips and ran her fingers through his long, beaded gray hair. She could feel his tense muscles soften with every touch; he was relaxing, making a soft growling sound that almost sounded like a purr as she moaned with anticipation and felt herself growing moist to receive him as sensations neither had ever experienced before took over.

K'Shai gasped and moaned loudly as R'chnt moved his hands along her body, down her hips and between her legs. She clapped a hand over her mouth and held her breath for a moment, listening intently trying to perceive if anyone in the corridors outside may have heard her; forgetting only for the briefest of moments that R'chnt's keen heat sensitive eyes could see right through the walls.

He picked up on her tension, her fast heart rate that wasn't just from being aroused, and reassured her that there was no one about.

Without delay, K'Shai returned to tending to R'chnt, removing his armor piece by piece along with the remainder of her own underwear.

K'Shai rolled into a position on top of R'chnt and groped his muscular abdomen with her hands and lips and tongue, taking her time, building his anticipation, watching him heave with delight and just a bit of discomfort before she unsnapped the final piece of his armor, which was creating too much restriction over his growing erection.

K'Shai slid her hand down R'chnt's abdomen and groped his groin cup once more. She immediately reached for his belt and clicked the two pieces away from each other.

Smiling widely, she pauses for a moment, lifted her eyes to his and noticed the look in his face, almost taunting her to go on, clearly anticipating what was coming next with intense arousal. She took a deep breath, preparing herself, and pulled the belt away. The groin piece came loose.

K'Shai eyed him widely, slightly fearful and groped his masculinity in her hands with a delightfully nervous smile. She shut her eyes and tipped her back, allowing herself to enjoy every second of exploring his body. R'chnt caressed her breasts and fingered her body with exuberant delight, purring softly and panting equally as hard she was.

She breathed deeply, making a high pitched moan of eagerness and pleasure as she put her shaky hands on him and rubbed him heatedly as he grew and stiffened quickly. He was massive.

She briefly wondered if it would even fit inside her and how badly it might hurt. She quickly cast those thoughts away, though and continued to grope him.

She leaned forward and pressed her lips and tongue to his chest and slowly moved her own hips in synch with his as she leaned against him.

R'chnt flared his mandibles widely and howled as a loud clasp of thunder banged in the sky outside. She could feel even his body shaking under hers.

His skin was beading with sweat and she could hear his two powerful hearts beat as she pressed her face into him and touched her mouth against him. R'chnt shook with heated pleasure and she wondered if he had ever felt anything like this before.

R'chnt, removed of all of his armor, weapons, and even his bone necklaces, looked and felt completely different to her than she had ever imagined. She watched him tilt his head, shut his eyes, caress her with a gentleness that most of the humans probably could never have imagined he was even capable of, heaving slowly as his erection throbbed in her hands, and she swooned and moaned as she lay on top of him, kissing him passionately.

He grabbed hold of her arms and shifted his body and she allowed him to reposition her on her back under him as he growled a deep purr.

She felt his hands slide around her thighs as he positioned himself closer to her, nudging her reassuringly with his flared jaws as he heaved and lowered his body between her spread legs.

She could feel her ready wetness dripping and feel the heat emanating from his body as she caught his musky scent in her nostrils and shut her eyes and moaned. Her hands rubbed against his chest, under his arms and around to his back.

She could feel his body heat rising, she could feel his skin sweat, and she could feel his erection dripping as he positioned himself above her and she felt him move against her inner thighs.

K'Shai shut her eyes, tipped her chin back and groaned as R'chnt pressed against her. She trembled and moaned, feeling the tip of his shaft tickle against the folds of her skin and just as she thought she might explode with excitement and nerves all bundled into one, R'chnt pushed himself into her slowly.

K'Shai immediately gasped and tensed up, clenching her fingers tightly against his shoulders and around his long hair as she felt his protrusion into her.

R'chnt paused, feeling her shaking as he pushed himself barely an inch into her. He knew there was no question his size well outmatched her and she had never before been entered. He purred softly and reassured her gently.

"Relax, K'Shai. Take ease."

He spoke quietly, pausing long enough to allow her to relax and stop shaking.

K'Shai took a deep breath and watched him stare at her. As he felt her relax just enough, he pushed further into her and paused again as she moaned, this time, more comfortable and more accepting.

He took care to ensure she was relaxed and ready before he pressed deeper into her. Supporting himself over her with one hand, R'chnt took his other hand and stroked K'Shai's chest slowly, lowering his tusks against her skin as she heaved her chest and relaxed under him.

He slid his hand down her body and under her thigh, positioning her slightly into a better angle, and again, pushed himself into her a bit further, giving her time to expand to accommodate him.

"I will not hurt you, K'Shai."

He assured her in a whisper.

K'Shai stroked R'chnt's back and shut her eyes, tipping her head towards his as she kissed him again and again along his cheek and jaw.

He felt her body ease up one final time and thrust himself completely into her, growling feverishly in accompaniment of her own moans. He paused again, watching K'Shai carefully to ensure she was fully relaxed.

She looked at him in wonder and ecstasy and smiled, holding her breath for a moment in anticipation. R'chnt nudged her with his tusks reassuringly and stretched his upper mandibles.

"Are you ready?" He asked her through an excited pant.

K'Shai moaned and nodded, catching her breath and managing to eek out an aroused whisper.

"I'm ready."

R'chnt put his hands more under himself and readied his position as K'Shai groaned feeling him move slightly inside her. He clicked his tusks together and scanned her delicate, heaving body one more time.

"Do not tense up, K'Shai."

He warned.

She nodded and bit her lower lip so hard she almost drew blood as he began to move back and forth, slowly caressing inside her with his huge erection.

She felt the texture and toughness of his thick skin along his back as she stroked small, thick, quill-like hairs that protruded off the back of his shoulder as she rubbed her hands as far as she could reach over him.

She howled loudly as R'chnt pulled back, the thick texture of his ribbed penis eliciting more sensation than she ever thought possible. He pulled nearly completely out before thrusting himself slowly back into her, lubricating her completely with her own secretions as well as his.

He pushed himself all the way inside her, moaning and growling with sheer delight as he spread his mandibles and succumbed to feelings quite unlike anything he had experienced before.

He pulled back again, slowly, carefully ensuring he did his best not to hurt K'Shai as she moaned under him and stroked his powerful body.

She trembled with delight as her body adjusted to the feel and each slow motion he performed became easier. He pushed into her again slowly but smoothly, and out one more time, teasing her outer skin with the feel of his rigid protrusion as he slowly withdrew almost completely out of her a second time, then a third.

K'Shai's nervousness began to dissipate. She was still trembling slightly, and she was sure she could feel R'chnt's own body trembling softly as he carefully and slowly thrust into her.

With each motion, she relaxed more and although the sensation, as overpowering as it was, was not the most comfortable feeling she had ever experienced, it was quickly becoming easier with his each move.

He could tell that she was relaxing more and adjusting to the feel of the sensations overwhelming her. She softened her touch on his shoulders for just a moment and R'chnt pressed his body closer in to hers.

She could feel him throbbing wildly. She could smell his musk, feel the sweat beginning to lather his skin as his body heated up and heated hers along with him.

He pulled back once again, with a smoother and faster action and thrust himself forward without pause. K'Shai moaned and throbbed as she felt him thrust again and again, a little faster, a little harder every time.

In a few more seconds, R'chnt was pumping into K'Shai full on, as she moaned in rhythm with his deep rumbling breathing and low pitched growling.

K'Shai grabbed a small cluster of R'chnt's thick hair in one hand and clenched his powerful forearm with her other, gripping so tightly she nearly lost circulation in her fingertips.

She could feel her own wetness dripping out of her as he pumped hard into her, thrusting himself fully into her until he was skin to skin with her; his abdomen pressing against her with every forward motion.

He flared his tusks wide, panting and chuffing as K'Shai moaned and howled in pure ecstasy. The two immersed themselves fully into each other, drowning out their surroundings from their minds completely.

K'Shai shut her eyes and felt R'chnt's body on top of hers, groped his arms and shoulders as he raised and lowered himself while he thrusted into her, and absorbed him fully, from the sounds of his heavy breathing and deep growling to the feel of his hearts beating wildly in his chest.

R'chnt arched his back and shifted his position slightly, tipping his head back and flaring his mandibles wide as he gasped a breath of pure delight, pumping firmly into K'Shai as she moaned and panted below him, trying hard to stifle her voice as best as she could think to do.

She succumbed completely to the sensation of his mighty self pumping inside her and the two moaned and panted in perfect harmony as their bodies blended together.

She could feel R'chnt's body tense and thrill and throb as he pumped his hips against hers a little faster and harder each time until he growled wildly seconds before he exploded into her. K'Shai moaned with sheer pleasure as she felt R'chnt's heated load fill her up and he slowed his pumping to a stop with a satisfied groan.

Neither of them heard the knock on the door. Neither of them noticed Lewis and Carlos enter the apartment and lock their eyes for a shocked second on the clear view in the bedroom at the end of the short corridor.

Their moans and panting and pounding hearts overrode the whole world around them as they embraced while their bodies cooled and R'chnt separated himself from K'Shai, collapsing next to her in the bed in a heap of pure relaxation engulfed in total ecstasy.

They slept well that night and as K'Shai stirred just before dawn filled the room and eyed R'chnt, who was still asleep, she was quite certain it was the most restful sleep she had ever experienced.

Her body was steel reeling with tingling excitement as she tiptoed her way around the apartment trying not to disturb R'chnt while a gentle rain tapped against the windows. He rarely slept so deeply, she did not want to stir him.

She tossed on a shirt that just barely covered her below her hips and only popped the door open just enough to peek out to survey the corridor beyond.

She wasn't sure what she was expecting exactly. She knew if there was any trouble, the Yautja would know well before any humans.

No one in the corridors that she could see appeared alarmed or troubled in any way. No one noticed her crack the door open.

She did not see Lewis or Carlos and she was sure that if anyone had any idea of what she was doing with R'chnt, they knew well enough to stay away. She knew full well what the humans thought of the Yautja.

Just then, a soft beeping from R'chnt's armor caught her attention and R'chnt arose and responded tersely.

Looking to their Leader for the agenda for the new day, K'Shai was quite certain she heard a tone of relief in W'rsa's voice when he confirmed with R'chnt that the group had earned more rest and R'chnt made it clear he planned to make the most of his time with K'Shai.

"Are you hungry, K'Shai? We should hunt some food. I can teach you."

K'Shai tiptoed back towards R'chnt slowly as he stood and made his way through the apartment towards her. She eyed him hungrily, watching him move with no coverings.

"Maybe not just yet…" she whispered playfully and sighed an aroused moan as she reached into him, her face barely at the level of his sternum.

R'chnt wrapped his arms around her and lifted her up. She pressed her body into his and kissed him feverishly as she felt his hands slide under her thighs.

She avoided his injuries carefully as she wrapped her calves around his hips and allowed him to support her as she kissed him while he purred deeply.

K'Shai stretched her neck and let her face touch into his. She kissed his cheek, slid her hand back under his long hair and behind his neck. She pressed her lips to his face and kissed along his jaw line, to the quill like protrusions along the very back of his jaw, near his ear, an area she quickly learned by the thrilled trembling of his body and aroused sounds he made when she put her tongue against it, aroused him.

R'chnt tipped his head, allowing her a better reach at him. She smiled, enjoying that he enjoyed what she was doing. She liked how he tasted and the smell of his musk overpowered her senses.

As she groped his cheek with her tongue and he rattled out a soft, pleased purr, K'Shai felt her body quiver with delight. Her heart sped up, her breathing deepened, and she felt herself tingle as she touched him.

She could feel herself getting more wet with every passing second and her arousal was matched by R'chnt's own body reeling with pleasure.

K'Shai straddled his body and he carried her back to the bed at her whispered request. He dropped to the mattress below her, holding her carefully over him and as he shifted into a comfortable position, K'Shai wrapped her legs around his waist and sat on top of his thighs as he stretched out.

K'Shai's long hair draped over her shoulders and as R'chnt brushed her hair aside, he ran his hands over her shoulders, around to her back and then gently stroked her arms once more before he slid his hands over her breasts as she positioned herself upon him.

The sensation of his hands over her breasts thrilled her to a new level. She moaned and tipped her head back, smiling widely as she knelt above his erection and ran her hands over his own naked chest, then slid them down onto his abdomen, groped his waist and tensed her fingers as she ran them between his thighs.

Her body rattled with delight and she groped his penis with her shaky hands. She could feel her body churning, begging for him to be in her.

She moaned loudly and pressed her naked torso against his, feeling the warmth of his muscular, beautifully carved alien body against hers. She kissed his cheek once more and he turned his head into her, nudging her softly with his tusks.

He put his hands on her body, gently tickled them over her breasts once more, and ran them down to her hips as she lowered himself onto his erection.

K'Shai felt him thrust his waist, slowly at first, working himself a little deeper into her with each effort, careful enough not to cause her harm. She moaned and groaned as R'chnt sped up his powerful thrusts and growled with delight as he pleasured himself inside of her as she dripped and moaned, bouncing above him with every pulse.

R'chnt howled wildly as he drew his head back and succumbed to the flowing juices that ran through them both. K'Shai felt the hot, moist burst of his essence flowing inside her, heating her up even more than she already was.

She moaned and echoed R'chnt's own voice as he finished depositing himself into her and held his position for a moment longer, thrusting a few more fading passes into her as he growled, long and low. She could feel his body trembling, and she could see the sweat beading up on his skin.

She held her position above him and smiled thinly, eyeing him as he huffed raspily and slowed his breathing down as his body settled. K'Shai rubbed her hands against his hard, battle aged body, tracing her fingers across the chiseled lines of his abdomen and the old scars and new injuries he had endured from many battles over his four century long existence.

She sighed deeply and lowered herself against him without a word and kissed him over and over again until she began to relax her own body and mind as she shifted position and curled up next to him, wrapping herself into his side and under his arm before settling with her head against his chest to rest.

She glanced down at her own body and noticed some of the overload seeping out of her. It was tinged a light green, just like the blood that ran through R'chtn's veins, only more milky, not as bright.

She smiled as he cooed to her and she pressed her head onto his chest and listened to his heart beat. She glanced outside once more and listened to the rain as it picked up intensity once more.

"See? Told you this isn't a one-time deal." She said lightly.

"Still raining out. Maybe we can hunt a bit later," she whispered.

R'chnt said nothing, only stroked her hair as she rested her head upon his chest.

For four more glorious and peaceful days R'chnt kept his group nearby and spent every moment he could with K'Shai, which was almost every moment of every day.

K'Shai pleasured R'chnt in ways she had not even begun to think of, and ways she was certain he had never experienced before.

The humans kept their distance, although K'Shai knew well by the murmings she overheard amongst them whenever she did go near the group, that her relationship, and healthy libido, with R'chnt were the hot topics amongst them.

Lewis and Carlos tiptoed delicately around the matter and eyed K'Shai warily anytime she was around, as if they were looking for some sign of him abusing or hurting her.

They asked her as indirectly as possible if she was well and doing 'alright', and although she gave them both a gracious smile and appreciated their concern, she knew they were implying their concern that R'chnt was somehow injuring her.

It seemed that most of the group, especially the adults with more years on them than K'Shai simply had no idea what to make of the most unusual situation.

Young Kelly accepted the pairing more than any of the others, and readily questioned K'Shai about R'chnt in ways only an innocent child could. She simply knew, from what her mother had told her days before, that Cassandra and the alien hunter were "very good friends"; it was the intuition of a ten year old that lead the girl to ask Cassandra if R'chnt was her boyfriend, which produced thin smiles and red faces amongst the group, including K'Shai.

Lewis and Carlos caught up to their friend Cassandra as she made her way away from the rest of the human group and headed in the direction of the Yautja camp not long after dawn one morning, once again acting as though they were surveying her for injuries as they asked her if she was alright.

She smiled softly at them, trying to allow them to simply absorb what was happening around them instead of forcing it upon them with words, although she did once again tell them she was feeling fine.

"Does that … _stuff_ … on your leg still hurt?" Carlos questioned.

K'Shai frowned subtly and shook her head. "No, not really."

Lewis and Carlos's eyes suddenly shifted to the giant alien that appeared a short distance away from another corridor. They watched R'chnt warily; their strained efforts to accept their friends' unusual relationship obvious on their faces.

"I'm going to be back later tonight. Just to let you know."

"Where are you going?" Lewis asked quickly, a slight amount of alarm in his voice.

K'Shai smiled reassuringly, with a definite hint of anticipation and excitement. Although she said nothing, she merely cast her eyes upward quickly and pressed her lips together, clearly trying to contain her enthusiasm.


	28. Chapter 27

**CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN**

They walked a short distance from the town and found an empty parking lot of a shopping center long since void of cars and consumers. Whenever the hunters took more than a day or two to rest and recover, one of them usually returned via shuttlecraft to one of the ships looming in quiet orbit far above the Earth, for supplies.

Damaged equipment was repaired or replaced, new weapons were collected up for delivery back to the group that remained on the world, and the one elected to be the supply runner would also usually return with Yautja food and drink, at least enough to last the hunters for a few days; a taste of familiarity on an alien world.

K'Shai could always tell when the hunters ate meat and drank juices familiar to them; it put them in a far better mood over drinking alien water and hunting alien animals for food. The human race was struggling to survive, and of course, she knew their trials all too well.

It was easy, in some ways to think that the Yautja were simply "handling it" because they were only visiting for a short term, but as K'Shai grew to knew the hunters better and better, she realized the challenges they were facing were just the same as the humans – a shortage of supplies and a life and death struggle every day, in addition to being on a world that even felt alien to the natives.

R'chnt himself never left the world to get supplies for his group. He was Leader; his job was to keep the others both directed and disciplined and lead them to victory or honorable death as they worked as a small unit of a great team to eradicate the bug drones from the face of the Earth.

However, this time, he elected himself to make the supply run, and informed K'Shai she would be coming with him. She brimmed with excitement at the mere notion of venturing into outer space, but she also knew his reasoning wasn't just so she could go sight-seeing.

She stood quietly by his side as they halted near the edge of the parking lot and she scanned the sky along with him. It was late October, and the typical gray skies and bleak weather of fall prevented her from seeing any sign of the ships floating so far above the clouds.

Suddenly, a small form took shape in the sky and grew larger as it zoomed towards them. They waited patiently as a small shuttlecraft set down in the parking lot and a ramp on the back popped open. R'chnt extended his arm towards K'Shai, inviting her to go with him and simultaneously telling her walk ahead of him. She pressed her lips together and strode forward as he followed.

As she stepped onto the ramp, she suddenly felt her body surge and her heart skip several beats in a row. She filled with both eagerness and nervousness.

She wanted to see space; she wanted to learn more about R'chnt's people and their ways, but she also knew that his people wanted to know more about her.

Their unusual relationship, which up until just a few days ago, was widely considered nothing more than an oddity and curiosity amongst his people, at least according to the rest of his group from what she gathered, was now something entirely different.

They had crossed into completely new territory, and their relationship was one that made history in the entire history of both races. R'chnt had every intention of bringing K'Shai with him to the homeworld after the Earth hunt was complete, assuming either of them were still alive by then, of course.

Whether or not she could conceive an offspring was another matter entirely, and while the humans in her little group were scratching their heads and casting their glances away whenever she was near, unsure what to make of her relationship with an armored alien killer that towered seven-foot-four, K'Shai was beyond certain as she stepped aboard the shuttle in preparation of meeting more Yautja, that they would be just as perplexed.

R'chnt had discussed this day with her; she knew it would come eventually, but still, even as she sat down in a Yautja sized chair along the side of the shuttle near the front windows, it seemed rather surreal to her.

She knew she was headed to her judgement, and although R'chnt did assure her that she had done nothing to cause him any dishonor, she knew that whatever judgement was deemed upon her, would also be deemed up R'chnt for the line he crossed.

She stayed nervously silent in the course of just a few moments while her mind zoomed through thoughts of what the rest of the day was going to be like.

She envisioned a variety of scenarios of what the Yautja she would meet were going to do to her and how they would elicit their judgement. She had a momentary anxiety attack that she struggled to keep quiet, hoping R'chnt could not interpret how nervous she was, as she concerned herself over completely made up scenarios that had not even happened yet.

R'chnt had a much more, almost laid back approach to life, handling only the matters that were immediately before him and not worrying about the ten thousand other possibilities that could happen.

She had not quite adopted that mentality, she realized as she tried to toss concerns over the two of them being strung up and skinned from her mind.

He must have sensed her anxiety, because R'chnt reached for her and clamped his giant hand over her shoulder, squeezing gently. She patted his fingers and watched the sleek vessel take off.

The cabin of the shuttle was easily large enough to accommodate six Yautja comfortably, maybe even eight if they all squeezed in, but it was obvious, even for K'Shai who had never seen a space ship close up, that this was a short transit vehicle only.

She imagined that even just two Yautja in the vessel for a long enough duration would probably end up killing each other out of agitation for not being able to get out of each other's space.

The shuttle was automated; no one piloted it down to the planet to pick her and R'chnt up. K'Shai scanned across the panels in front of her, trying to decipher the alien language and symbols upon them.

Learning to speak R'chnt's language was an extremely difficult challenge. After months of learning, she was still fumbling over words, saying the wrong things sometimes, and perhaps most embarrassingly of all, she would completely run out of words mid-sentence, because she did not know enough vocabulary to finish her thought, so R'chnt would have to interpret for her.

However, reading his language was something entirely different.

R'chnt began to teach her some of the words and symbols, but it was a painfully slow process that she had a nearly impossible time comprehending.

She stared quizzically at the panels before her as though her blank gaze might help her suddenly read the words. She had to forcibly prevent herself from randomly tapping all the buttons just to see what happens. She contented herself for the moment with clasping R'chnt's mighty hand and staring into the clouds.

"Your people have flying vessels, yes?" R'chnt questioned.

"We do," she confirmed as they sailed up into the clouds quickly. "But not to space."

R'chnt glanced to her after tapping a button on the panel before him. "Your people have been in space."

"Well, yes. But only a handful of humans have ever been in space. Even less have been to the moon. We can't travel the stars like you." K'Shai clarified.

"I've been on an airplane before, so I've been up this high."

"How long have your people been able to travel in space?" She asked after a moment.

"Many centuries. My ship itself is 1,000 of your years." R'chnt informed her non-chalantly.

"I can't wait to … see… it….I… wow." Her voice trailed off as she gasped in awe and wonder.

Once the shuttle cleared the clouds, it shot up into the upper atmosphere and suddenly, K'Shai's view of her world changed dramatically.

She was familiar with the image of Earth from space, even though she had never before seen it from beyond the clouds. Certainly every movie she had ever seen, and images from space, made the sight familiar to her without ever actually seeing it.

As she stared out the front window of the little vessel, though, she found the sights beyond her full of overpowering wonder and spectacle.

The sun lit rim of the curve of the Earth was just quite like she thought she could remember seeing in movies and photos, but she certainly did not recall the smattering of alien space vessels in those images.

From the planet's surface, K'Shai was well aware that there were dozens of vessels hovering far above, some cloaked, some visible, just floating above the planet.

Once in the edges of space with them, the sight before her was incredible. There were hundreds and hundreds of Yautja ships, of all various sizes floating idly as the world far below spun.

Many of the ships were not even perceivable with the naked eye from the ground, so K'Shai had no idea just how massive of a force of Yautja had arrived to Earth until now.

She stared between distant stars glowing like she had never before seen them and nearby ships that looked far different than she thought they would. It was an intimidating force, for sure.

The ships themselves looked like some kind of cross between mechanical marvels and angry crustaceans.

They came in a variety of sizes. While there were a few small transport shuttles buzzing out that she could see in the distance; they looked like little grains of rice compared to a coconut.

There were many larger ships hovering all around, and beyond them all loomed a single massive ship, so large it might as well been its own planet, she thought.

"The jag'd'atoll," R'chnt said as the shuttle zoomed directly for the massive vessel.

K'Shai watched the ships zoom past the window before her, and the stars beyond them, barely realizing that R'chnt was watching her instead.

She peeled her eyes away from the window for just a moment to gaze at him with a wide smile. He eyed her in silence, with a small smile across his upper tusks.

In no time, the little shuttle was being swallowed whole into a docking bay near the underside of the massive atoll ship.

K'Shai craned her neck back to watch the roof of the ship above her zoom past the window of the shuttle. A flicker of a blue light, like static electricity emanated as the nose of the shuttle entered the bay.

The docking bay was quite full.

As the shuttle zoomed itself into an available spot, K'Shai's eye's bounced around both sides of the bay, counting at least thirty-five other similarly sized shuttlecraft all lined up sitting dark and idle. She wasn't sure what to expect of the ship itself or of the people she would meet.

As R'chnt stood and headed to the back of the shuttle to exit, K'Shai followed. She eyed the docking bay with wide eyed wonder and noticed a half a dozen Yautja near an entry door into a corridor.

The docking bay of the atoll was dimly lit. It was sweltering hot, so much so that as soon the ramp of the shuttle opened, K'Shai immediately removed her jacket and two layers of long sleeve shirts.

She had been dressed for surviving in the cold of late fall without the luxuries humans had taken for granted, like heat.

The high temperatures of the atoll clashed brutally with the rather cool ambient temperature of the shuttle, which was filled with Earth air when the ramp opened on the planet. Immediately, a fog began to develop inside the shuttle and K'Shai wafted through it as she had left.

As they walked through the large docking bay, the heat in the ship was enough to make it a little hard to breathe, and K'Shai had briefly thought about removing her tank top, to walk about in her bra alone. She doubted anyone would really care.

The metal walls of the docking bay looked to have an aged Earthy red tone to them.

They looked old, but not all that dissimilar to any riveted metal one would expect to see, K'Shai thought; rather like the hull of a battleship. They were not exactly what she had expected, then again, she did not really know what to expect.

R'chnt's own body, apart from his many dangling bones and medallions of his conquests over the centuries, was like a subtle monument to the battles he had seen.

Faded scars of old battles etched his skin, along with piercings and tattoos that told of his position in the clan and hunts he had survived. Somehow, K'Shai just assumed that the inside of the Yautja ship would look more ceremonial. Then again, it was just a docking bay.

She walked past the group of hunters with only a vague passing glance. Whatever conversation they were having amongst them came to a sudden halt and K'Shai could feel her skin tingling along the nape of her neck as she walked towards the stunned hunters who stared in flared-mandible bewilderment.

She knew already from dealing with R'chnt's small group, that it was best to focus on her destination or desires and pursue them, essentially ignoring everyone else as she went about her business.

Although she did not know why, she did at least perceive that male Yautja seemed to naturally avoid a female that strutted along with disregard to anyone else.

K'Shai felt her gut churn and her heart speed up as she walked boldly past the hunters. She knew R'chnt was keenly aware of what she was feeling, but she wasn't sure if the other Yautja could pick up on her nervousness, too.

She tried on a confident façade, but she felt completely out of place amongst R'chnt's world, wearing _ooman_ attire and staring at everything with wide eyes, striding along next to R'chnt, who walked towards his destination coolly and composed.

As K'Shai walked along the metal-hulled corridors next to R'chnt, and drew gaze upon gaze from awe-struck hunters, young, old, male and female, she tried to focus on her strong front and not falter amongst the mighty Yautja.

She began to wonder what was going to happen when she met the people she was brought there to meet. She envisioned scenarios of being tested for strength and courage as the Yautja tried to determine if she had enough ferocity in her to become part of R'chnt's clan.

She could not imagine what challenges lay ahead for her, and as she walked through amber illuminated corridors past dozens of pairs of silent eyes, she only hoped she would succeed and not let R'chnt down.

They turned down an adjacent corridor and immediately made a left through a set of heavily etched doorways. K'Shai glanced up at the etchings and caught a few familiar words R'chnt had been teaching her, but that was about it. His language was difficult enough to speak; reading and writing it was proving to be a slow challenge for her.

They entered a room that was entirely more ceremonial than K'Shai could have ever imagined.

It was a large, oval room with a raised floor along one wall, like a low stage, almost, just a foot or so higher than the rest of the floor. The entire bottom of the risen section was lined with a variety of bones and skulls, all ornately etched with symbols that made up single words and entire sentences.

There were pillars throughout the room, all of which combined together, K'Shai at least knew enough to know, would tell the story of the clan's origins, but she could not read them.

Besides this, the room itself appeared something more like a museum; with trophies on display of every size covering nearly every wall surface available.

Weapons, some clearly ancient, some broken, some still bloodstained, lined the spaces and moldings above, below, and between the skulls. Her eyes caught three human-like skulls proudly displayed in a triangular fashion on a far wall.

It was possible that the skulls were of a similarly structured alien, but K'Shai somehow felt that they were human. The variety of species whose bones were displayed upon the walls, K'Shai could not even begin to imagine.

Some of the skulls were massive; bigger than any Queen she had encountered and K'Shai immediately gravitated away from R'chnt, towards a nearby wall, the entire middle section of which was adorned with a massive serpent like skull.

The elongated skull was easily twenty feet long. It looked almost similar to some kind of eel, K'Shai presumed, not that she had ever seen an eel with a twenty foot head.

The creature's triple set of canines on the upper jaws dropped down like a saber toothed tiger, and inside the skull's gaping mouth were shark-like rows of razor sharp teeth.

K'Shai tried to imagine the animal fully intact- whether it was a sea creature or a land animal, she could not be certain, but she tried to envision the rest of the body; perhaps it was a giant snake, or something with wings like a dragon.

Any which way she imagined, she knew there was no question that it was truly a worthy kill; enough to elevate any Yautja to a new level in the clan, and there was simply no doubt why the animal was so prominently displayed.

In contrast to what was easily the biggest trophy in the room, doubtless on the whole ship, there were other skulls in the room that were so tiny, they seemed likely from a domestic house cat and she had a bit of a hard time processing why anything so small could be trophy worthy.

Suddenly, just as K'Shai was trying to image a horde of rampaging cats charging angrily towards a Yautja on the defense, nine Clan members entered the room from an adjacent doorway.

Three males, all elders, but none appeared quite as aged R'chnt, followed at the end of group. Before them led six females, each one, though not in typical _awu'asa_ , the hunting armor K'Shai had become so accustomed to seeing, were spine-tingling intimidating anyway and K'Shai immediately felt her body tense as she locked her jaw and watched them enter.

They were larger than the males, taller, not necessarily more muscled, but there was little doubt in her mind that any one of the female Yautja she saw before her could easily take on, and most likely kill, any male, even R'chnt, probably with her bare hands.

K'Shai suddenly had no questions at all why the males seemed keen to stay out of even her way when she walked forward with a purpose as she went about her business. Yautja males were clearly possessed of a healthy intimidation of females; of any species apparently.

K'Shai swallowed as she turned to face her judgement.

The looming female, the tallest, eldest, and clearly the most critical of her, stared her down like she was little more than a bug as she approached R'chnt's side, halfway tempted to hide behind him. The female took to the center of the raised platform while the others filed in neatly next to her on both sides.

Her garments were heavily adorned with polished bone and alien jewels, intricately laced into alien leather, metal, and rope-weaved trim. She flared her mandibles and clicked loudly as she eyed K'Shai from head to toe and back again.

"Do you who I am?"

The tallest female asked K'Shai flatly, with a tone that suggested boredom, perhaps combined with a hint of dismissiveness.

K'Shai briefly wondered if the female had halfway suspected that she wouldn't even understand the Yautja language, but R'chnt had been teaching her well; so well in fact, that K'Shai knew exactly who the female before her was.

"You are Neh'rti, the Clan Leader," K'Shai factually, careful to watch her tone and her eye contact.

Neh'rti clicked her tusks together in consideration of K'Shai, while continuing to stare her down, dominating over her with just a glance as she strode towards her smoothly.

"What do you think of these trophies, K'Shai?" The Leader questioned.

That was not quite the question that K'Shai had expected, but she promptly answered.

"They're incredible."

Neh'rti drew in close to K'Shai and eyed her, tucking her own tusks into her clavicle as she looked down nearly a full meter to the top of K'Shai's head alone.

"And does one appeal to you more than the others?"

K'Shai immediately felt her eyes shift towards the massive serpent on the wall just to her left. She did not respond, but it was clear Neh'rti saw her eyes cast that direction.

Neh'rti ticked her upper tusks together and glanced at R'chnt before turning to stride around K'Shai, circling her where she stood planted to the ground.

"R'chnt is an honored and wise elder in our Clan. I would go so far as to say that he is the most dominant male in the Clan. He has hunted for centuries and proven his mettle against incredible prey and over females alike." Neh'rti spoke loudly, her deep voice resounding around the room.

"This entire situation on your world has been unusual in every way. And now, R'chnt appears before me with….." she paused almost as though she was consciously trying to keep her words in check. "… an unusual request."

She turned and stared at K'Shai and a lingering silence filled the room. There wasn't really a question there, so K'Shai kept her pressed her lips tightly closed, not sure if she was supposed to respond in some way.

Neh'rti's cold, hard, golden eyes surveyed K'Shai's scarred body. A deep bite was visible on her upper arm as bruises from a week before still flushed her skin.

"And you and R'chnt have mated." She added in curiously in a tone that only vaguely hinted at a question.

"Yes." K'Shai confirmed.

"Tell me, K'Shai," Neh'rti invited as she returned to the rest of the Clan, who did not speak or move.

"Are you prepared to endure the repercussions of your actions on both you and R'chnt? Should I choose against this … unnatural mating… not only will we kill you of course, but R'chnt's honor will be destroyed.

If you care for him, as I assume you do, are you willing to risk the honor of this hunter who this clan reveres as a mighty Leader? Are you willing to see him humiliated, his bloodlines rejected, and his body torn to pieces?"

She could feel her heart pounding in an instant, while she stood there shoulder to elbow with R'chnt. He did not so much as move even the slightest flicker of a tusk. He gave no indication that he was concerned in the least.

K'Shai thought quickly before she answered – a flood of emotions and "what if" scenarios that did not even exist as of yet rushed into her mind in one swoop, making her heart jump wildly and her throat tighten. She tried not to delay her response so much as to appear as if she was hesitating.

Within the splittest of a micro fraction of a second, all the thoughts and concerns that flooded into her were washed away by something R'chnt had told her. There was _nothing_ she would do that would cause him such dishonor.

"I am." She said smoothly, confident, certain that Neh'rti was trying to test her faith in R'chnt.

Neh'rti clenched her mandibles tightly and spoke to R'chnt with little more than a fleeting interest.

"You may leave us."

Without a word, or even a glance towards K'Shai, he vacated the room quickly, almost as if he was eager to do so.

K'Shai's nerves flared up as Neh'rti stepped towards her while R'chnt headed out. She did not notice him look back into the room before the great doors slammed closed.

Neh'rti circled her again, rather like a lion that might be waiting for its prey to die miserably. K'Shai could feel her bones rattling, but hoped somehow that Neh'rti could not sense it.

"I have heard much about this ooman who walks with the Yautja." She said. "Are you surprised by this?"

"No, I had expected that R'chnt would…" K'Shai started, but the strong Yautja cut off her words.

"Much of what I have heard has not come from him."

K'Shai eyed the Clan's Leader.

"He has told me he has been teaching you. He has brought me to you because he wants you to have a place in the Clan. With us. With him."

She spoke slowly, surveying K'Shai as she encircled her. Neh'rti never took her eyes off of her.

K'Shai felt like nothing more than a child being silently scolded by her domineering mother for something she wasn't even sure she had done, but would accept the punishment anyway because she was too intimidated not to.

"I know you have mated with him, because I can smell him on you. And you on him." 

K'Shai stood still, and only briefly cast her eyes towards the other Yautja, who had not moved or said a word the entire time. Neh'rti glanced to them, and another female stepped forward, but Neh'rti continued speaking.

"Much of what we have heard has come from others in R'chnt's group. This is a most unusual situation, K'Shai. I would never have expected this from a Leader such as R'chnt. Not another Yautja that has come to your world has taken such a keen interest in your people. Certainly not taken a mate."

Neh'rti's words sounded abrasive, confused, and even just a little more than disgusted.

"Tell me, do you find mating with R'chnt pleasurable?"

K'Shai pressed her lips together, quite sure her cheeks flushed.

"Yes I do." She said simply.

"Come with me, K'Shai."

Neh'rti directed and the female that stepped forward followed behind her as she walked in Neh'rti's tracks. Two more females joined them and the rest of the group dismissed themselves as K'Shai was taken through an open archway along the far wall, and down a lengthy, amber lit corridor.

There were no other Yautja in the corridor, but K'Shai could hear echoing voices as she walked.

"The trophy on the wall you so admired," Neh'rti started again. "Was R'chnt's kill. He hunted that before he became Leader himself. Three hundred years ago."

K'Shai smiled and Neh'rti stopped and turned towards her, reaching towards her head delicately, lifting her chin up as her long fingers slid under her jaw.

"You and R'chnt have a connection I have never seen before."

K'Shai smiled softly and Neh'rti released her touch and strode into the room she had stopped before.

It was a large, oval room, like the trophy room she had just come from, but this room had something more of an intimate, feminine, feel to it.

The walls were richly ornate, carved with symbols, words, and scripts and lightly adorned with trophy bones and jewels. Only the female Yautja accompanied her, and several more females in the room cast glances her way. K'Shai could feel her spine tingling as she became very aware of the scoffing looks she was receiving.

She followed Neh'rti through an antechamber and down a lift to a lower level, where she remained in the company of a dozen females for several hours before she made her way back through the hallways and rooms and chambers and levels she had been taken through and found her way back to R'chnt.

He was sitting around a long table not all that unlike a giant picnic bench, in one of the eating halls in the massive ship. K'Shai had seen only a tiny section of the giant city-sized vessel, but found her way back to R'chnt without any problems.

He was in the company of more than a dozen other males; most were elders, although a few appeared younger. They all fell silent and alert as K'Shai approached.

She smiled widely and R'chnt reached for as he rose to greet her, immediately directing his company with him.

"It is time." He said.

K'Shai smiled thinly as she gripped her hand around his upper arm and stared at him.

"You knew, didn't you?" She asked suspiciously, with a sleek smile.

"That she would accept you?" R'chnt questioned with gently spread upper tusks. "Of course."

"I just spent the last seven hours thinking…"

He cut her off as the group of males walked ahead of them silently.

"She wanted to see you first, that was all. There was a never a question K'Shai."

She lowered her head graciously and followed R'chnt and the other males through a series of corridors.

Everywhere she went, Yautja of every caste simply stopped and gaped at her. She naturally shifted herself as close

to R'chnt as possible without looking like she was trying to hide behind him. She amused herself with the vague idea of wearing a shirt with a giant arrow on it that said "I'm with him" in Yautja, and wondered if that might help the situation.

Soon, the group before her turned into another oval room with walls so heavily etched with Yautja scripture, it very well immediately struck K'Shai as some kind of temple.

She discerned a few familiar words and situations in the scripts; the Path of the Gods and the Soul of the Hunter, two of the most familiar R'chnt had provided her. She thought she saw a few more familiar symbols, but her attention was more focused on the crowd in the room.

Neh'rti and a dozen other females loomed on one side of the large room while the rest of the chamber was packed, quite to the point of overflowing with males.

K'Shai noticed two of the females that she had not met earlier were quite clearly with child. She glanced around the rest of the room and saw that besides the group of mostly elders that R'chnt kept with, the majority of the Yautja in the room, all blooded hunters, appeared younger and clearly aboard ship to have a variety of injuries tended to.

Judging by the severity of some of their wounds, K'Shai imagined some of them had managed to both etch their way up in caste and be, probably permanently, removed from the hunt at the same time.

It was not, as she had learned, a dishonor _not_ to die in a hunt. Although quite separated in the way they lived their lives, both male and female Yautja wore their scars with pride.

She knew that R'chnt, as both an elder and a Leader surprisingly was a little more than modest about actually being injured, though he was proud of his scars, he did not wish to appear weak from injury.

The room filled with silence as K'Shai moved into the center and R'chnt turned to face her. She watched him certainly, with her lips pressed thinly together.

Her skin gleamed with sweat and she felt more than just a little out of place with so many garments upon her body.

R'chnt retrieved a bowl from one of the elder males that had been filled with a pearly blue luminescent liquid. He inserted a tool into the liquid, something that looked quite similar to an ice pick and she could hear a soft sizzle hiss up from the heavy bronze and bone bowl in his hands.

Without a word, he pulled the tool from the liquid, passed the bowl back off, and gripped K'Shai's chin firmly with his free hand before he laid its sizzling end upon her forehead and carved into her skin.

She took a deep breath and held it, trying with all her force not to whine, grimace, or tremble as the mighty Leader carefully, but quickly carved the Clan symbol into her forehead. Four separate lines, two horizontal, two vertical were etched permanently into her skin; the mark of her acceptance into his Clan.

The ritual was short, but Neh'rti announced her into the clan aloud to the room, which K'Shai soon learned afterwards while she, R'chnt, and more than a dozen other Blooded of both genders talked, that this was unusual for a Clan Leader to really have anything to say during a blooding ritual.

The Leader that had trained the unblooded carved the mark, recognized their accomplishment and confirmed that they now had a place in the Clan.

Most of the time, the Clan Leader was not even present for blooding, but K'Shai knew her situation was unique in every way. Having Neh'rti's direct, vocal approval of her acceptance into the Clan, she knew, secured her position.

While some may question R'chnt's choices, but few would dare challenge him, K'Shai knew no one was going to question Neh'rti and certainly not challenge her. Because of her gender, K'Shai was assured acceptance and even safety both from R'chnt and some familiar males and from the females alike.

The day breezed by quickly, and while K'Shai and R'chnt remained mostly surrounded by curious Yautja who wished only to see and perhaps even talk to K'Shai, the shuttle was loaded with supplies.

"Are we leaving already? I suppose we do have to go back, don't we?"

K'Shai said with a gracious smile as R'chnt stood after a short conversation with a few other elders on the far end of the long table at which they all sat around on the floor.

"Not quite, K'Shai. There is one thing yet we will do. Come with me."

Once again, the pair navigated corridors and K'Shai and R'chnt soon entered a small, but ornate room. She learned after going into enough rooms on the ship over the first few hours, that the Yautja seemed to prefer oval rooms. Nearly every room had no corners.

She thought perhaps it prevented an unlucky fighter from being quite literally backed into a corner. The rooms flowed. They flowed together as one, they flowed within themselves, and the small oval room they entered was equally as ornate, if not even more so, than the first chamber she was taken to when she arrived.

Once again R'chnt and K'Shai sat on the floor along with just a small gathering of elder males and two presiding elder females.

A chalice was prepared with some syrupy nectar called a'gya, that K'Shai had come to learn was a surprising favorite amongst the Yautja.

The sweet a'gya fruit was something she could only compare to a cross between a kiwi and an apple. It was hearty and meaty with a tough external shell that Yautja tusks were more than adept at cracking.

The fruit ate like a full meal and was so powerfully packed with nutrition it was easy to imagine living purely off it. The Yautja drank a'gya juice in mass quantities when they needed energy and a clear head that alcoholic drinks could not provide.

One of the elders emptied some pinkish liquid from another flask into the chalice with the juice and set it down in the center of the circle of Yautja.

"K'Shai," he said. "Your Path before you is the Path chosen by the Gods. Together with R'chnt your Paths are One.

The elder motioned with his hand, gesturing to K'Shai to retrieve the chalice which she promptly did.

R'chnt withdrew a small dagger from his belt. Only a few inches long; it was barely a paring knife. Its bone handle was intricately carved and he used it to cut his own skin slightly, piercing a hole into his finger tip just enough to let a few drops of blood drip freely into the chalice.

"Our Paths have been chosen by the Gods, K'Shai, and we will walk it together. My blood is yours as yours will be mine." He announced.

He handed her the knife and she stabbed her own finger, bleeding just a few drops into the chalice, repeating the words he had just said.

R'chnt reached for the vessel and whirred it together, the blood droplets mixing with the pink liquid, creating a rainbow hew across the milky white juice before he drank exactly half and handed her the chalice.

She smiled confidently at him, and drank the remaining blood-mixed liquids without a word.

K'Shai returned the chalice R'chnt who spoke with certainty.

"So we are bonded by blood, by the Clan, before the Gods, K'Shai, and our Paths are forever intertwined."

The ritual was brief and words were short, but the significance of what took place was clear.

K'Shai leaned forward, close to R'chnt and reached for him. She lightly touched his hand so as to move in to kiss him more easily when she felt an intense burning jolt shock her body; rather like she had been electrocuted.

Suddenly, she saw R'chnt before her, but he was not the same.

He seemed to be cloaked in a fog, the world around him was lost; it was only him. She could just see him, barely outlined in the thick fog by a glowing aura around him.

She could hear a sound, like a powerful beat that filled her ears yet seemed somehow distant. It was loud, but so distant she could not tell where it was coming from.

She looked closer and extended her arm towards R'chnt, and suddenly noticed that he too was reaching out for her.

The fog dissipated briefly and for only a fraction of a moment, K'Shai saw R'chnt before her, laid out covered in blood. A voice spoke, but she was not sure whose it was.

 _"It is your strong heart, K'Shai."_

"What happened?"

"What was that?"

"K'Shai? R'chnt? Do you hear? Can you see?"

Voices filled her ears and she glanced around, seeing four alarmed looking elders a foot away from both of them. She turned wide eyes to R'chnt and glanced him over from head to toe for any signs of blood.

"What..?" She muttered quizzically.

"K'Shai?" R'chnt said to her as he gazed at her with an equally puzzled look.

"There was a burst of energy when you touched just now," one of the presiding elders explained as it quickly became clear that K'Shai and R'chnt both were unaware of what had just transpired.

"For a few seconds, you both… _left_."

"Left?" R'chnt questioned and glanced between the elders and K'Shai.

"I saw you. You were reaching to me."

K'Shai gritted her teeth, trying to understand if she could how it was that R'chnt had experienced the same thing as she.

"I saw you. You were reaching for me. Did you hear that sound?"

R'chnt shook his head. "Sound? No. No sound. What did you hear?"

"I don't know. It was like… like a heartbeat or something. Did you see anything?"

"No." R'chnt said quietly and K'Shai fell silent.

After a short while of puzzled contemplations over what they had experienced, K'Shai and R'chnt soon found their way back to the shuttle loaded with supplies, with a full day behind them, they left the jag'd'atoll.

The shuttle lifted off from the metal grate floor smoothly and quietly zoomed out through a forcefield and a massive set of open doors into space.

K'Shai eyed R'chnt, quietly processing the experience of her vision, and how it differed from what he had seen. She lightly touched the burning mark on her forehead and then cast her eyes back out the front of the shuttle.

"It's incredible out here, R'chnt. To travel the stars like this. All the worlds you've seen."

"I will take you to them, K'Shai."

He responded quietly, pressing controls at the helm and veering the shuttle on an arcing path away from the great blue globe of Earth.

"Don't we have to get back to the hunt?" She said with a light laugh.

He chuckled lightly and pointed out the window again, and her eyes followed his cue. K'Shai rose from the seat, gape jawed as she stared at a massive colorful cloud of space dust some distance away from the ship, and larger than a planet. As the shuttle punched through the glowing mist, she eyed a massive glowing orb of oranges, yellows, and white.

"It's Jupiter." She said in whispered amazement.

She watched the planet as the shuttle passed it by and zipped around the other side, sailing on for a short while at speeds so fast the stars in the distance blurred before the windows until the rings of Saturn appeared before her.

R'chnt pressed controls and K'Shai watched his actions intently, beginning to absorb what buttons to press to fly the shuttle, even if she had a hard time deciphering the difficult written Yautja language.

"We will have more time, after the hunt is complete. You will see the worlds I have told you of." R'chnt said after a brief tour around Saturn, right through its rings.

She turned to him and her smile widened as he entered another series of controls on the panel before him. She reached for his arm and gently stroked his forearm, just past the gauntlet on his left arm, her hand moving up to his bicep and brushing aside several of his long, gray locks and bead adornments.

"I can't wait to see them," she whispered slowly as she leaned him to him and moved her other hand to his chest, taking in the texture of her skin as she moved her hand across his muscles.

R'chnt clicked with delight and K'Shai pulled the corners of her mouth into an excited smile as she moved in and fully straddled him in the oversized command chair.

He leaned back and stretched his body, arching his back, and tipping his head back as she kissed his chest and moved her tongue over him and up to his chin and jaw and fondled the beard-like quills back to his ear.

R'chnt groaned with arousal and laughed deeply in pure delight as K'Shai snapped off his belts and exposed him to her pulsating thighs and eager hands.

As R'chnt throbbed and growled with pleasure, she slid off him and removed her clothing and invited him to stand up, which he did obediently and quickly.

She climbed on her knees into the chair, it was so massive it could have easily fitted two people next to each other and another two on each of the arms. The hard metal seat was covered only barely in some padded leather.

She gripped the back of the chair as R'chnt moved in close behind her with a deep growl and fondled the back of her neck and shoulders with his tusks, making her moan with arousal and anticipation.

She could feel her own body throb and moisten as R'chnt rubbed himself against her and rounded his back over her as he slid his hands along her hips, under her abdomen and up to her chest.

He took a firm hold of her breasts in his massive and powerful hands, clicking delightfully with a soft growl that quickly turned into a resounding moan that she echoed as he slid his thick, massive erection into her.

R'chnt was careful and attentive towards K'Shai. They shared in rambunctious pleasure, but he knew he could easily overpower her and damage her, as fragile as small as she was.

He pushed himself slowly into her, feeling her body throb and tense as he did as K'Shai howled with a combination of ecstasy and discomfort.

R'chnt pushed himself into her as far as he could, until his abdomen was pressing fully and completely into her rounded and bent over buttocks and K'Shai, groaning with delight and begging for more, gripped the back of the chair so tightly she thought she might dent the metal.

He withdrew from her slowly, allowing every thickly textured fold of skin on his powerful shaft to drag completely through the inside of K'Shai, lubricating himself with her wetness and stimulating every inch of her sensitive inner flesh until his lobed shaft head was nearly fully out of her before he growled loudly and pressed himself back into her.

K'Shai groaned ever louder on the second thrust and R'chnt echoed her delight, pushing himself fully into her and stopping for a moment to allow her body to adjust before he pulled out to the head, allowing the ridged lobes to tickle her outer skin folds before he pressed himself into her again, more firmly.

He felt her body relax slightly and as K'Shai gasped and groaned out for him to push faster and harder, he had already sensed that she was ready to fully accept him.

He growled loudly and began to pump himself into her, faster with each thrust, and harder as she beckoned him. Their bodies heated up together in seconds.

The ambient temperature in the ship alone was hot enough to keep K'Shai's body coated slightly in sweat anyway, but as they were consumed for several minutes with furious passion, R'chnt dripped saliva and sweat onto her back as she screamed.

She shut her eyes and pressed her lips together as her body filled with R'chnt's warm juices that erupted from his hardened shaft to the sounds of his completely satisfied growls.

Their combined fluids oozed out of her body and onto the grated floor below them. She only vaguely wondered who exactly cleaned a hunter's ship and shuttle after R'chnt slowly extracted himself from her after several long moments of holding his position so as to allow a thorough emptying of himself into her and give her swollen and throbbing body time to ease its grip on his penis.

K'Shai groaned as R'chnt pulled his full self out of her.

He took a quick, deep breath, and leaned over her as she spun around in the chair and smiled, biting her lower lip in a sultry, pleased manner as she gazed upon him.

She reached to him and he pulled her up into his arms, supporting her fully against him as she kissed him again and again.

"Oh," she said between still panting breaths. "I guess we're back."

Her eyes shifted to the windows of the shuttle as she saw the familiar sites of Earth coming into view around her. As the cloud cover broke, she was quite certain she saw Africa zooming by the window and in a few more minutes, as K'Shai and R'chnt both dressed again, the unlit buildings of the very parking lot they had taken off from came into view as the shuttle set down.

R'chnt stepped towards the back of the shuttle and opened up several compartments, like lockers that lined the side walls and out popped a variety of supplies for the hunters.

There were fresh weapons, recharged plasma casters, replacement bio helmets and wrist computers as needed, and even satchels of meat and flasks of drink for the hunters.

While the edibles would not last long, they provided both a needed boost of nutrition and a taste of home for the battle-weary hunters.

As soon as the shuttle's loading ramp back hatch dropped to the ground, K'Shai was startled slightly to see a dozen uncloaking bodies appear moving into the vessel.

W'rsa at the front of the group as was his place when the Leader was not present, walked in ahead of the others towards the supplies. R'chnt and W'rsa discussed their next plans briefly as they and K'Shai walked out of the vessel while the rest of the group exchanged what they needed and loaded up for more hunting.

In only a few minutes, all hunters were clear of the shuttle and it took off quickly and quietly under its own guidance, back through the clouds, and back up to the mother ship so far above the planet.

It did not take long before K'Shai returned to the human group and parted company with R'chnt and the rest of the Yautja.

The hunt was on, and she knew that it would be days before she saw him again. She couldn't help but to feel a flush of sadness and concern as she watched his cloaking back disappear.


	29. Chapter 28

**CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT**

The humans were growing ever more comfortable in their surroundings.

Since the appearance of the Yautja hunters months earlier, the attacks from the _bugs_ had become fewer and farther between. With more time to rest, camp, and even settle in to a location, slowly something that felt like a normal life, even _home_ was beginning to develop.

The group, once dwindling in numbers down to just a handful, had rebounded and grown in the months since the Yautja arrived. Over just the last few days alone spots of new survivors, in bands of two or five had joined forces. The blended groups became one, and with the addition of a few young children, the group suddenly felt like a large family.

K'Shai watched the sun and moon dance idly around each other as one day turned to two then three and continued on until seven sunrises had occurred and yet there was still no sign of R'chnt or any other Yautja.

She kept herself pointedly away from the human group, only keeping company with Lewis and Carlos who seemed to pass their time by eyeing her in silent wonder, clearly acknowledging her quiet look of concern but not knowing what to say or do about it.

Young Kelly seemed to be the only other one of the group who readily accepted K'Shai's unusual relationship and inquired about R'chnt without judgement or apprehension. The rest of the group, as K'Shai was well aware, murmured and gossiped and scoffed and glared at her with more scrutinizing than even any of the Yautja aboard the jag'd'atoll had.

As K'Shai put her growing training to use in hunting down fresh meat for the group to eat, even those actions, despite their benefit to the others, caused strife and fear.

K'Shai, just the night before, killed a deer for the group to feast up, from easily fifty yards, with nothing more than the very knife that had been once impaled into her thigh. It was a useful trophy, and R'chnt had been teaching her well to hunt from a distance, for her own safety as well as teaching her hand to hand fighting.

She could have shot the deer easily with the plasma caster mounted around her waist belt, but the damaging shot would have ruined too much meat and with ammunition running low for the group, there was no need to waste a precious bullet.

Ensuring that the group had enough food for everyone, K'Shai launched her blade and struck the animal through the throat. It bled out quickly leaving a short and easily tracked trail in the setting sun.

While the group encircled a large fire, savored the smell of the finely smoking venison, and enjoyed their meal, none of that seemed to stop them from commenting about K'Shai's relationship with the aliens, the kill she had made, the mark on her head or the longing and separated look in her eyes she held for the missing R'chnt. She was used to the Yautja being gone for days, and slowly, she had noticed that the duration of their time between returning for rest had been slowly growing longer.

Now, though, it was different. She kept her lamentations to herself, but it was not unobvious to her onlookers, so she remained mostly away from the group, silently scanning the streets and the horizon from various rooftops until she could no longer keep her eyes open into the night, watchful for a shimmer, a glowing blue flicker.

As the clouds played across the moon once more, K'Shai ignored the gentle rain and kept her weary eyes on the horizon for as long as she could, thoughts of the vision she had experienced with R'chnt running wild through her mind until she could no longer keep herself sitting up.

She returned to the apartment she claimed for herself on the uppermost floor. In the still darkness of the night, with a dead city all around them, echoing voices of people talking and children running and laughing resounded up through the building's hallways and stairwells. The entire group had made a home two floors below. K'Shai laid in the bed and pulled the sheets up over her as she groaned softly, feeling dizzy, nauseous and stressed as the rain gently ticked the window.

When morning light met her eyes and she squinted into awareness, she was not completely sure when she had even fallen asleep or how much rest she got. The only things she became immediately aware of was that R'chnt had not returned to her during the night and she had a sudden sinking feeling in her stomach that made her leap up in an instant and force her to double over the toilet in a moment.

K'Shai slipped down to the floor and rested before she stood and cleaned herself up. She took her time cleaning her body and washing her hair in the sink from a gallon of collected boiled rain water.

She studied her reflection in the mirror. Her thoughts were drifting into a hundred different directions and the more she tried to focus them, the more they slipped away to exactly the thoughts she was trying to quell.

She vaguely thought about eating, but felt too nauseous to even walk down the stairs and had little interest in joining the group. As she sat in the open window to the fire escape and watched the streets and rooftops around her, she could already here the group stirring into activity and wisps of smoke rose up past her nostrils as a fire was stoked.

The hours passed slowly, and K'Shai, feeling dizzy and lightheaded every time she moved, remained mostly motionless until the sun was well above her shining as brightly as any November day would allow it.

She did not hear the knock on the door on the other end of the apartment and she did not realize Lewis and Carlos had entered until they startled her.

"Hey, Cassy?"

With a tense jump, she looked about and eyed her friends silently.

She caught their concerned glances that were clearly mixed with a confused uncertainty about what to even say. It was obvious they were straining for even the basics and K'Shai said nothing.

"You alright?" Lewis asked finally.

She turned her head back to the rooftops one final time before crawling through the open window back into the apartment.

Carlos kept his eye on her, while Lewis seemed to nervously scan the buildings.

"Cassy, you look exhausted." Carlos said. "Are you sleeping alright?"

She remained silent, her jaw clenched.

"When was the last time you had anything to eat?" He prompted again.

"Cassy? What's wrong?" Lewis urged stepping into her as he reached out and squeezed her arm then

yanked it away as though he was concerned over his own safety for doing so.

"Sit down please," K'Shai said to them, gesturing to the table nearby.

She spoke in barely over a whisper, sounding both distant and worried as well as tired.

Lewis and Carlos did as directed and K'Shai paced softly near the end of the table, pressing her hands nervously together as she tried to form words while Lewis and Carlos eyed her looking halfway alarmed by what she might have to say.

"When I was on the ship with R'chnt…" she began softly. "Something happened, and I don't know what to make of it."

Both men shot each other a sort of look that screamed 'I told you so', as if they presumed the whole relationship with R'chnt was a bad idea. They stayed silent and glanced back to her.

"We…engaged in this ritual. It's not something terribly common for his people. We drank each others' blood…" She paused and her lips formed a small smile as Lewis and Carlos squirmed just a little bit.

"Well it was in a chalice, it's not like we sucked it out of each others' necks…"

She smiled half-heartedly and continued on.

"Anyway, it was a blood bonding ceremony. We declared our paths as one and bonded ourselves to one another until we die." She spoke slowly, softly, but took a breath to continue on.

"Wait a minute…" Lewis held a palm up and eyed her widely.

"Are you telling me you two got _married_?"

K'Shai stopped and stared between Lewis and Carlos for a moment.

"Well, I guess you could call it that, yea."

She shook her hands and moved on to the point she was wanting to bring up. "But that's not it. After we did the ritual, we touched hands, and something happened."

She told them about the shared experience they both had, of the same vision from their own perspective and told Lewis and Carlos of what she saw.

"I saw his death."

"Did you tell him what you saw?" Lewis asked.

She shook her head slowly as a tear ran down her cheek. "I couldn't."

K'Shai stood trembling on the spot while Carlos and Lewis silently tried to process the overwhelming events they were being told.

She could see a look of disbelief on their faces and for a moment, she did not know what they found more unbelievable – the vision, or the whole scope of the idea that she had married a seven-foot-four alien hunter that in another time and situation would most likely have readily removed all of their spines for a trophy on his wall.

"Listen, I know it sounds crazy. Impossible, right?" She sighed heavily.

"A year ago, I was going to be a fashion designer and aliens didn't exist. I know what we experienced. Something is just… different between us."

"What do you mean exactly?" Lewis asked quietly.

"I don't know… it's hard to define. It's…" she stammered and sighed as her thoughts drifted. "Even Neh'rti said it a couple times to me when I was with her.

"Who?" Carlos asked.

"She is the leader of the clan that R'chnt.. well, and I… belong."

Lewis huffed and K'Shai glanced at him.

"I guess I just thought R'chnt was the leader." He said quickly.

K'Shai nodded. "He is a leader. He's a hunt leader and a spiritual leader. Females rule the clan."

"Any…anyway, Neh'rti even said it herself. There is a bond between R'chnt and I that is hard to explain or understand. I know what we saw, even if I don't fully understand it."

She slunk into a seat next to Carlos and sobbed. Her stomach churned and she felt sick as she wept profusely.

"I can't lose him."

"You don't know where he is right now?"

"He's been gone for a week." She said as she shook her head. "I just … I just can't lose him. I don't know what to do."

Carlos patted her shoulder lightly. "Well," he said thoughtfully. "If this…. _vision_ … is in any way accurate, then you would be together if this happens."

She eyed him considerately. She hadn't thought of that.

"You're right."

Lewis added in his thoughts. "Plus, you don't know when this vision might really take place. Maybe not at all."

She shook her head quickly, absolutely certain of one thing. "No. We saw this to show us what is imminent in our future. It was the Gods' work. They showed us how our path together ends."

"Well, what about the voice?" Carlos questioned trying to break down the vision piece by piece. "Who's voice was it? What did it mean?"

K'Shai shook her head. "I don't know. I don't know who's voice it was. But the name K'Shai… it means _strong heart_."

Lewis and Carlos exchanged wary glances in silence as K'Shai wiped away continued tears from her eyes. She locked her jaw up tightly for a moment trying to shove her distress out of mind, but her thoughts filled with the full reason for it.

"I'm pregnant."

She blurted out quickly and slowly, ensuring her words were not misunderstood. Clearly they were not, judging by the stark expressions her friends cast her. She remained silent as they processed her words before she turned her head to look between them both.

Carlos sighed deeply, with all the emphasis of a concerned father. He reached for his stethoscope and leaned towards her.

"Let me listen, Cassandra."

He looked her over and listened to her chest quickly before he dropped the stethoscope to her stomach and paused. He held his breath for a moment before he huffed and cracked a soft smile.

"Yes you are."

Lewis squeeze his eyes shut for a moment and shook his head. "Did you find this out during that ritual, too?"

K'Shai shook her head slowly.

"I haven't been feeling well the last few days. Tired, sick. I took a pregnancy test this morning."

Her words were soft, barely audible. Carlos presented her with the end of the stethoscope and she took a listen to her own womb, hearing something that sounded like a fast purr in her belly.

"Is that a heartbeat?"

Carlos raised his eyebrows. "It's the sound of two heart beats, not beating in synch. When I listened to R'chnt, that was the first thing I noticed. Doubled heart beats."

"Wait? Is she having twins?" Lewis asked, looking more alarmed.

Carlos shook his head and glanced to Lewis. "No. R'chnt has two hearts."

K'Shai nodded silently, verifying that as true.

"Well, we need to get food in you. There is no telling what kind of strain that growing fetus is putting on your body. Not eating will do you absolutely no good."

Carlos commanded and rose to his feet, helping K'Shai by the arm out of the chair.

She spent the remainder of the day with the group, but said very little. The three of them did not speak of her condition, but as evening fell and the orange fire danced across their faces, Nancy leaned in to her and whispered a congratulations and words of support in her ear.

K'Shai shot a startled look to Nancy.

"I know that look." Nancy smiled softly and glanced to her daughter Kelly who was playing nearby with another child. "It's going to be alright. I've never seen two people more in love."

She cast a soft smile and quick glance to the mark burned into K'Shai's forehead and gently squeezed her shoulder for a moment. K'Shai pressed her lips together and smiled, then cast her gaze back to the flickering fire as the moon rose higher and higher into crisp, cloudless sky.

K'Shai leaned over towards Lewis and clapped her hand on his shoulder. "I'm tired. I'm going back to bed."

"Whoa!" Someone exclaimed from group and his surprised exclamation was quickly echoed by several others as heads turned to a point somewhere in the dark distance behind K'Shai.

K'Shai turned and her eyes caught movement in the darkness. There were several large forms taking shape far down the street. The group around her murmured in awestruck amazement as the massive bodies of twelve tremendous horses appeared out of the darkness, each one mounted by a Yautja hunter; R'chnt in the lead.

Her face lit up immediately, her jaw gaped, and a smile wider perhaps more so than any other smile she had ever smiled took control of her face.

K'Shai pulled herself to her feet and stepped lightly forward away from the group as the Yautja all came to a halt, and only R'chnt rode quickly forward. He removed his helmet and locked it into place over his left thigh.

His armor glistened in the moonlight, and the sheen of his skin caught up the bright moon's beams. The metal and jeweled beads in his long gray locks glimmered, the horse snorted.

The animal was massive, easily the largest horse K'Shai had ever seen. It was gray. Its feet were bigger than a dinner plate. It had no saddle, no reins, yet it did R'chnt's bidding and stopped squarely as he greeted her by name and extended his mighty arm towards her.

Without hesitation, K'Shai stepped close to R'chnt and the horse and gripped his arm. He pulled her single handedly off her feet on onto the back of the horse.

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and nudged her head into his hair and squeezed her eyes shut as she whispered her greeting into his ear. He urged the horse forward and the massive animal quickly clapped away to rejoin the halted group at the other end of the block.

"Well, ok then. Good bye." Lewis mumbled as he watched Cassandra disappear into the darkness with R'chnt.

"My K'Shai, you are with child." R'chnt said with interest as soon as she was settled behind him.

"How…" she started to say, but stopped and merely held him tighter.

"Well, I was going to surprise you, but I guess not!" She laughed and kissed him lightly behind his ear.

It wasn't until morning when she returned to the human group and promptly informed them they needed to move on. The hunters were already headed towards the next hive, having cleared out the immediate radius.

The human group, with limited grumbling did pack up and they were all soon walking eastwardly along a grassy ridge next to a highway that had closely parked cars long abandoned in the lane. Some of the doors had been left open, some were ripped off.

Cassandra walked quietly at the head of the group, Lewis tailing just behind her by only a few inches. Carlos walked farther behind helping some of the injured along. The group walked in mostly silence throughout the morning. There was no sign of the Yautja anywhere.

"So, what's the plan, now?" K'Shai could hear whispered behind her.

"I guess we're just running off into danger because that's what the hunters are doing."

Several of the men at the fore of the group whispered amongst themselves.

"This is crazy. We need to come up with a real plan for survival."

"We should take a break, let's stop." Lewis spoke up quickly, and K'Shai halted, glanced about for any signs of the Yautja as she waited with the humans while they rested and discussed the future.

"Hey, Cassy," one of the men in the group said to her after a short while. "Why don't you just get your friends to take us all into their spaceships?"

"Yea, they can have this world and we can go find somewhere else to live."

"Right, we can go to their home."

"Screw that, I don't want to go to their planet."

K'Shai listened to the conversation and said nothing. She remained some distance away from the rest of them, only Lewis and Carlos sat near her. She was not sure if the others thought she could not hear their whispers or didn't care.

"I mean, where are we going? What's the plan?" The whispering continued.

"Some crazy chick decides to have sex with an alien and now we're all just supposed to follow her?"

Lewis glanced to her to gauge her reaction. K'Shai clenched her jaw tightly closed and looked at him.

"We're going to move on the next town, and set up camp."

Lewis said promptly, with an irritated tone in his voice that immediately caught the attention of the whispering men, making it clear that he and K'Shai had overheard their conversation. They glanced to him and when their eyes met K'Shai's, they all suddenly found something else to look at, from damaged cars to litter in the street a quarter mile away.

K'Shai remained quiet throughout the rest of the day.

She felt slightly queasy, but slowly her body was adjusting to its new condition as the two week hybrid fetus inside her grew. She walked on as long as she could, staying warily away from the rest of the group.

She no longer felt part of them at all.

Thoughts of the vision she harbored of his death ran rampant in her mind and compelled her to say nothing to stay with him as long as possible. R'chnt kept quite close to the group now, only disappearing for short distances to ensure the area was secure.

Although there was no doubt that the bug numbers were dwindling as attacks grew more sparse and the hunters had been gone longer and longer on each hunt to seek out their foe, K'Shai knew it was only a matter of time before he made her leave the group and Earth all together.

Females did not hunt when in child, and only hunted rarely even after taking a mate.

She knew he would want her leave the world and go to the jag'd'atoll with the other child-laden females. She would be required to wait safely in the stars while he hunted far below. It was not what she wanted, yet at the same time, she did not want to put the child in danger, either.

She quietly feared death from the bugs as well as problems amongst the rest of the human group if they found out about her condition.

She needed to eat more frequently than she had before, and soon, she knew it would not go unnoticed. She was able to get meat from R'chnt and his group whenever they killed prey so she did not have to consume as much of the human group's food supplies.

She felt a rush of relief when the group came to a halt before a luxury condominium building at the edge of a town, just before dark.

She was ready to rest, but she wanted to wait for R'chnt and his group to return all the same. Once the area was deemed safe and clear, the human group made themselves at home in the building, lighting a fire just outside the back door of the main lobby, in what would have once been a stone courtyard.

The in-ground pool was black and filled with algae, emanating a stench that the warm fire just barely covered up.

K'Shai paced slowly around the courtyard, eyeing the surroundings for R'chnt and it was not long before darkness had set in on the group completely.

She settled down with a bite of food from the meal that had been created by a variety of canned goods, jerky, and other non-perishables acquired from the condominiums. It was a good stock piling of food; easily enough to feed the whole group for several days.

It was reasonable that they could camp here for a while, and depending on what other supplies would be found the following day, it seemed as though the human group would be able to turn the area into a home for weeks, even months; at least, that was where the conversation for the evening had turned.

"I thought we were going to keep walking," Kelly asked as the idea of making a long-term camp turned up.

"We need to find a place to make into home. Somewhere to restart, regroup. If we keep following the hunters because of her," one of the men in the group said pointing a finger at K'Shai, with a stern voice, "we're just going to keep getting into danger, and for what?"

"Why are they here anyway?" He said abruptly stopping one train of thought and jumping to another. "We can't keep following them for no reason, putting ourselves in danger."

K'Shai said nothing. Others jumped in to both sides of the conversation.

"They've been helping us. Protecting us." One said.

"Cassandra is the only reason we've had that kind of help."

"Bah!" One of the men exclaimed dismissively.

"Didn't they _free you_ when you were tied up with a gang member's shot gun to your head?" Someone snapped at him.

Lewis stayed quiet but looked between the murmuring group and silent K'Shai.

"Hey, you know," he whispered to her. "It's fall, the days are going to get colder, they're getting shorter. We got through one winter huddling down and holding out. We probably do need to think about doing that again."

K'Shai looked at him for a moment, but pressed her lips together. People were looking to her for answers that she simply did not have. R'chnt was not there to protect them.

It was true that he had only kept his group close to theirs because she had reached out to him with curiosity and friendship which caught his attention, but he was still on a mission and had a job to complete. It was not a job that involved the humans.

The Yautja army on Earth was making more and more clear zones, working in a massive connecting network of triangle shaped zones to eliminate the _kaindhe amheda_ drones and their queens and eggs.

The humans needed to stay in those safe zones, but the Yautja needed to continue on to finish the fight. A divergence was coming and K'Shai knew where she needed to be, where she could no longer be, and where she did not want to be.

She suddenly caught sight of a familiar shimmer in the dark distance and smiled as R'chnt's body appeared from out of his cloak, catching the moonlight as he did.

"I must go with him, Lewis." She said quietly to him and Carlos as she stepped away towards R'chnt far from the group. "But I will see what the options are for the rest of you."

He nodded and watched her leave.

K'Shai greeted R'chnt with a beaming smile and they and the rest of the Yautja headed away from the building with the human encampment. The Yautja were soon settled into their own camp out of sight from the humans, and K'Shai and R'chnt headed off further still, walking over a distance of nearly a mile.

"Oh, look at this! Apples!"

K'Shai said excitedly as she noticed a grove of apple trees near a pond just beyond the entrance to a park. She walked down the driveway entrance and R'chnt followed. K'Shai walked past the picnic shelter near the pond and picked a perfectly ripened apple from the nearest branch, savoring the taste of the fruit before she turned to R'chnt.

"Would you like one?" She asked but he gestured with his hand dismissively.

"Rest here, K'Shai, I will get us some meat. Make a fire. Stay warm. You will be safe, there are no _kainde amedha_ in the area."

"I've got to talk to you about that. After dinner. I'll be here," she said with a simple smile and bit another chunk of apple as R'chnt walked away.

K'Shai took her back pack and filled it with some of the fruits to bring back to the group when she returned before she collected sticks and kindling and got a fire going between the picnic shelter and the pond as the clouds whisked past the moon.

She scanned the skies looking for any ships, spotted just a handful hovering and one streaking across the blackness. R'chnt soon returned with two rabbits dangling in his powerful grip.

In no time, he had the animals skinned, carved and over the fire. He sat down and K'Shai tucked in close

to his warm body whispering to him quietly. They ate their meal and K'Shai hopped up, walking just out of sight around the other side of the picnic shelter.

"I'm going to hold you to that!" She called to R'chnt with a laugh, finishing the conversation.

R'chnt walked to the edge of the pond, knelt down and dipped his wrist blades into the water, washing the blood off of them. He ran the targeting laser from his helmet over them quickly to thoroughly clean them and sharpen them for the next kill and stood up at the water's edge.

"I am looking forward to it, really." K'Shai laughed again, calling to R'chnt from out of sight. She rounded the picnic shelter and stopped, eyeing R'chnt carefully, as the smile on her face faded a little and she bit her lip.

"It will be amazing to see your world. I can't wait for us to go there together."

R'chnt turned fully towards her and slowly approached, retracting his wrist blades just before she had gotten within an arm's reach.

"I need you to make _sure_ you take me to your world, and all the others that you've told me about." She whispered as she placed her palm on his chest and groped his body.

He stroked her face gently and whispered her name as she looked up to him and met his gaze with her eyes.

"I will, K'Shai. We will walk our path as one for as long as the Gods allow. And when the Gods call for my soul, I will wait for you to join me in the afterlife."

"Oh no, R'chnt. No. I will not live an hour past you. Not _one_ hour." She whispered strongly and reached to him.

He lifted her up and she wrapped her arms around his neck, whispering in his ear.

"I need you with me always. And I will wait for you in the afterlife for all eternity. You don't have my permission to go first. You can't, do you hear me?"

She spoke tearfully in barely a whisper, brushing his long beaded dreadlocks aside with one hand as she kissed his jaw and caressed him feverishly.

R'chnt dropped to his knees cradling her and K'Shai straddled him, pressing her body against his as she stroked his shoulders and kissed his cheek.

He rubbed his hands from her back to her breasts, under her shirt, pulling up her bra and stroking back down along her abdomen and around her hips, squeezing gently as he grew more and more aroused.

K'Shai unclipped the buckles to his chest armor and pulled off his arm gauntlets in a few feverish strokes.

She moaned quietly and gasped deeply as her body churned wildly as he slid her clothes off. She could feel herself wetting up and she knew by the tone in R'chnt's heated growl that his erection was quickly getting uncomfortable behind a restrictive metal cod piece.

K'Shai helped him free of the restriction and slipped off his lap just enough to get her boots and jeans off.

She hung her jaw and licked her lips as she felt R'chnt's fullness of his erection between her tense hands and panted more, kneeling in front of him and turning away from him as he growled and guided her into a kneeling position before him.

He slid his hands from her shoulders to her breasts and down to her hips, pulling them up into just the right angle as he introduced his massive, dripping erection into her.

He knelt behind her and thrust his hips forward slowly, making K'Shai howl and shriek loudly with excitement, pleasure, and anticipation. R'chnt rounded his body over hers, his powerful forearms fully engulfing her shoulders, his long and thick dreadlocked hair dangling over her back.

He lowered his jaws to the nape of her neck, brushing some of her long black hair beside with his chin and tusks as he tickled her skin with his upper mandibles, growling a pleasured and deep purr as he pumped himself slowly in and out of her, thoroughly coating himself with her lubricating juices.

K'Shai succumbed to the flood of sensations and the power of R'chnt's strong body. She moaned and shut her eyes as she panted and felt him thrust faster and faster into her.

R'chnt straightened his back and body behind her, allowing him to thrust into her more fully. He pumped himself into her powerfully right down to the skin on his abdomen, his scrotum swinging freely slapping into K'Shai with each aroused force forward.

She was a powerless slave to R'chnt's thrusts as he growled and groaned loudly while his body glistened in the moonlight from a layer of sweat beading on his skin.

He pressed hard into her, his body trembling almost as much as hers. K'Shai moaned and squealed and she could tell, from the tension she felt through his highly aroused body that he was trying to hold back just a little longer.

It was quite like trying to stop a volcano from erupting by squeezing the tip closed. R'chnt howled loudly as he could no longer prevent the pressure growing in him from shooting forth.

He filled K'Shai with his juice and his body shook with satisfied pleasure as he released himself fully into her while she panted and groaned and slowly quelled her breathing.

R'chnt held still in her for a few moments longer as he continued to empty the sap from his rod into K'Shai and felt her aroused body relax its grip ever so slightly from around his erection. He pulled back slowly, causing K'Shai to moan one more long time as he withdrew his shaft from her throbbing tract.

The pair stretched out on the cool grass, looked up at the sky for a while longer and caressed each other's skin slowly.

Sometime later, K'Shai leaned over into R'chnt and gazed into his eyes as she stroked his cheek slowly, with a soft smile on her face. She kissed him gently and curled into him, quickly finding sleep in the warm comfort of his arms.

Despite being so far south, the chill of the fall still crept its way into the night and K'Shai and R'chnt stayed warm with no coverings on through each other's bodies.

The morning light barely cracked the sky and a heavy fog had moved in, blanketing them both in a startling sight a bit too reminiscent of the vision K'shai had for her liking. She found herself immediately glancing over R'chnt, ensuring herself that he was just sleeping soundly and there was no sign of blood or injury.

She suddenly had the terrible thought that perhaps they both had been attacked while they slept by face huggers. She glanced around them but saw no spidery carcasses next to them. R'chnt did assure her the area had been thoroughly cleared, but K'Shai still found herself haunted by her vision.

She reached for his bio helmet and connected it to the computer system in the pile of armor next to him.

She held the oversized helmet upon her head and scanned through the various visual settings to look into R'chnt's own chest, just to reconfirm to herself that he was fine. He woke from his deep and satisfied slumber just then and smiled halfway with an upper mandible.

"You will get your own soon, that one is a little big for you." He said gently as he stroked her shoulder with his hand.

K'Shai pulled the helmet off and smiled widely. She leaned into him and kissed him passionately across his cheek, jaw, and down his neck to his shoulder and down to his collar bone and chest muscles.

"Did you sleep alright?"

He purred softly. "I never seem more rested than when I am with you."

K'Shai laughed. "Oh. Is that because I wear you out first?"

"Wear me out?" R'chnt laughed. "Is that the goal?"

Brimming from ear to ear with a sultry smile, K'Shai caressed his powerful body as he breathed heavily below her and his chest rose and fell.

"Sure. I think I can make that happen." She whispered to him between gentle kisses.

In minutes, K'Shai had worked her mouth, lips, and hands around his penis and scrotum and R'chnt was howling at her pleasure, a slave to the sensations she was creating like he had never experienced before he came to know a human female's touch.

As he growled and churned under her while she straddled his thighs, R'chnt's erection dripped, ready for more and K'Shai raised herself to her knees and lowered her body atop him.

He howled wildly and moaned with delight and pleasure as he began to pump and thrust upwards into her while she rocked against him, slowly at first, and then quickly building to powerful and passionate fury.

K'Shai moaned loudly and as she rose and fell atop R'chnt's powerful, massive rod, she arched her back and stretched her shoulders back and ran her fingers through her own hair and down her own shoulders, a wide, pleasured smile on her face.

R'chnt roared with delight as he released himself in to her. K'Shai squealed and panted and slowly stopped moving.

She held still for a moment just feeling the powerful throb of R'chnt's hard erection exploding inside her and her hands fell from gripping her shoulders, dragging slightly over her breasts before landing on his abdomen.

R'chnt sat up, still in her, making her groan a little from the position of his shaft as he flexed his abdomen and rocked her slightly backwards. He gripped around her body with his large, strong hands and as he caressed her delicate skin gently, his clawed talons dragged across her back, tickling her skin.

She leaned in to him and kissed him gently before she slowly pulled herself off of him, moaning as she did.

"Ohh," she groaned softly. "Do we have to go back to the group?"

"They would be Leaderless."

"W'rsa's got it covered for today." She smiled.

R'chnt looked sharply at her.

"Kidding! Just joking." She reassured him. "I know. I know."

She pulled herself reluctantly away from him and wandered off behind the solid wall of the picnic shelter before returned towards R'chnt and began dressing. R'chnt was almost finished getting his chest and leg armor on before she had even finished getting her boots back on.

She leaned over him, distracting him from his armor as she wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled again, kissing him as the morning fog began to clear.

"Uh. Oh. Hello."

She mumbled as she pulled away from R'chnt, eyes focused on a moving form coming through the fog.

With a growl, R'chnt stood and aimed his shoulder cannon as K'Shai stepped forward. The red laser beams found their target a few dozen meters away; the chest of an old man, holding a stick with a white T-shirt swinging off it.

"It's alright, R'chnt," K'Shai whispered, extending her palm towards him as she slowly approached the old man who eyed them both with wide eyes that said he had to try, but he made peace with God should he not live through the experience.

"Hello. It's Ok. We won't hurt you." She spoke to the man that approached.

"I.. uhh.." the man stammered, clearly terrified.

"I'm sorry," his raspy voice was soft, and somewhat defeated, desperate sounding. "I was hoping maybe you could help us."

K'Shai's eyes scanned the surroundings as the sun rose up and the fog lifted nearly completely.

"Us?"

"Uhh…" the man tried again to come up with words, eyes locked on R'chnt.

Suddenly, a quiet buzzing noise echoed through the still darkness and K'Shai and R'chnt both turned back to his armor.

The computer gauntlet, still laying on the ground behind them, was beeping and R'chnt, growling in annoyance, stalked away. K'Shai turned back to the old man with a little smile at R'chnt's sudden crankiness on her face and noticed that the man looked more than a bit relieved to have some extra distance between him and the giant, armed alien.

"It's alright." She said to him in a soft whisper. "What's your name?"

"Russ. Russel." He introduced himself with a last name almost as difficult to pronounce as some Yautja names she had heard.

"I didn't mean to… uh…interrupt." He said grittily, clearly his throat uncomfortably as he did. "I just hoped maybe you could help, and I didn't want to you disappear."

"I see. I can't help but wonder exactly how long you were out there?" K'Shai said flatly.

Russel grunted half-heartedly and cast a wary glance towards his toes, clearly giving his answer without saying a word.

"K'Shai," R'chnt called to her. "You should hear this."

She grinned curiously and stepped away from Russel to listen the communication coming through the computer.

The old man clearly turned an ear towards them, but did not dare move an inch closer, especially as R'chnt made quite the point to don the rest of his armor as K'Shai held the gauntlet and listened closely, an excited smile widely spreading across her face as she glanced to the old man as if the news directly concerned him.

She turned her gaze to R'chnt again, who retrieved the gauntlet from her and slid it into place on his arm.

"This is it, R'chnt!" She said to him eagerly. "This is what we need."

R'chnt nodded clearly and Russel obviously tried to decipher just what was going on as K'Shai approached him.

"You should get your people, Russel. We have a group, and you will be safe."

With a questioning, but eager glance, Russel turned and headed up a the slightly rolling hillside away from the pond and towards the line of the woods where he stepped onto a narrow path and disappeared as K'Shai and R'chnt gathered themselves together and walked casually along a short while later.

K'Shai stopped before they reached the edge of the woods and smiled at R'chnt as she reached towards him and gently touched his elbow.

"How do you think the rest of your people are going to react to this baby?" She said with a soft whisper as she unconsciously stroked her abdomen.

"He will be part of our clan as both of his parents are. He will be an honored hunter someday."

K'Shai smiled widely. It was hard to argue with his confident sense of absoluteness, except she protested on only one point.

"She…"

He stopped and gazed at her quizzically.

"How can you this?"

With a shrug and simple smile, K'Shai responded merely, "Motherly instinct."

R'chnt huffed softly and spread his upper tusks into a brimming smile, leaned in towards her without a word and picked her up off the ground, arms wrapped fully around her body. She smiled and laughed lightly and tightly encircled his shoulders with her arms, pressing her head against his cheek.

He lowered her back to the ground, gently touching her face with his long, clawed fingers, although his glance shifted from her towards the woods at that moment and she cast a still smiling gaze towards the people approaching.

Russell emerged from the woods, followed closely by another adult man who could have been his son. A short distance behind them approached a woman and two young children.

The man looked between K'Shai and R'chnt with only a halfway uncomfortable gaze. Russel eyed K'Shai and read her like a book.

"Well, congratulations, I suppose." He said heartily and K'Shai shot him a stunned gaze.

"Young lady, I've been a father three times, a grandfather four times. I know the look in a woman's face when she finds out she's having a baby."

K'Shai pulled her cheeks into a rosy smile but said nothing, merely glancing to R'chnt and back towards the woods again as an excited young boy, not even into his teens yet, bounded out quickly.

"Whoa!" He said with a start as soon as he rounded out from the trees and behind his grandfather. "Bad ass!"

"Tyler!" Russel said with a harsh tone.

The boy, fearless and curious strutted forward towards R'chnt. "Look at that sword!"

K'Shai, halfway amused, hearing R'chnt growling in displeasure, stepped towards the boy and gripped his shoulders.

"Ah. Ah. Maybe let's just stay right here, ok?" She said lightly as Russel and the two other adults all stepped towards the boy.

"I'm K'Shai."

Russel indicated to the others in his small group and introduced them.

K'Shai smiled thinly. "You'll be safe. We have a group not far away. Let's go."

She turned and walked only inches away from R'chnt, her shoulder barely reaching his elbow. They strode forward only a short distance when they realized the group behind them was not coming at all and they stopped.

K'Shai watched the group trying to urge the young girl out of her spot. She had stood silent the entire time, mostly hiding behind her grandfather and now would not move.

K'Shai walked forward to her and knelt down while R'chnt lingered some distance away, ever watchful, distrusting, and ready to fire his shoulder cannon if needed, although he deferred to K'Shai's judgement when it came to interacting with humans.

"Hi, Tracy. It's OK. How old are you, nine? Ten?"

"Nine." The little girl reluctantly answered.

K'Shai smiled pleasantly. "Well, there's a little girl in my group, her name's Kelly. She's ten. She's been through a lot and is my friend. I think you two will get along great. I can't wait to introduce you to her. Would you like an apple?"

She reached into her bag and offered the scared child an apple and she took it reluctantly, but her eyes warily shifted towards the lingering giant alien thirty feet away.

"That is my _very_ good friend, R'chnt. He's not going to hurt you." K'Shai added and the girl smiled and seemed more at ease.

She stood up and offered the others an apple, and whether they wanted one or not, they all took one, with stunned, reluctant, and slightly fearful looks on their faces.

K'Shai turned and headed back to R'chnt and the group walked on behind them. She bit into an apple and offered one to R'chnt who took it curiously.

"I don't know if you'll like that. Just don't eat the core."

"Why?" He asked and K'Shai paused and thought about it.

"You know… I actually have no idea. You just don't."

She smiled and laughed, gently nudging her body towards him and he extended his powerful, clawed hand towards her and draped his fingers across the back of her shoulders, her long pony tail bobbing gently as she moved on.

As they neared the city streets, R'chnt split off and returned to his group for a moment while K'Shai showed the new additions towards the group and introduced them. After a few minutes, K'Shai whispered to Lewis.

"There's something everyone needs to hear. Get them gathered."

He looked at her curiously but did as she asked. She had headed off to get R'chnt and returned with him a short while later. They walked together through the nervous crowd who quickly spread apart to make room.

"What's all this about?" Someone mumbled to Lewis who shrugged in return.

"Is she announcing that she's pregnant and they're getting married?" Someone else snapped sarcastically while a couple others stifled an amused laugh. Lewis and Carlos nearly choked.

"This morning…" K'Shai announced, glancing curiously between Lewis and Carlos and the men around them. "The Yautja came across a transmission. I thought you would all want to hear."

She turned to R'chnt who pressed a button on his computer console on the left arm and the nearly three dozen people around them fell completely silent as all eyes turned towards the towering alien. After a moment of static, a voice filled their ears.

"…welcome and safe. This is where the world starts over. I repeat. This is the city of New

Haven. We are over 4,000 strong. We are fortified. We have a secure perimeter over 15 kilometers wide.

We have food and medical resources. All are welcome and safe."

Eyes lit up as the repeating message sank in. A hearty and excited murmur filled the listening

crowd, quickly followed by hissed out hushes.

"Is this a recording?" Lewis asked of Cassandra, who shook her head.

"It's live. I thought you would like to be the first to respond." She said softly.

Lewis brimmed with eagerness and leaned in closer to R'chnt who pressed another button. The

crowd cheered and howled when the voice responded to Lewis.

Smiles filled the entire camp as the coordinates were mapped out and a plan was laid down. People prepped their

belongings and in just a few hours, the group was ready to head off on what would easily be a ten day journey to the

start of the new world.

"Lewis, Carlos," K'Shai said softly to them as the human group gathered at the end of a street,

looking on in the direction they needed to go.

Lewis and Carlos glanced to her and cast their eyes quickly

towards R'chnt towering not too far behind her.

"We will take you to the safe city. The area around it is mostly clear. There should not be any

major trouble getting there. And after that, I'll uhh.."

Her voice was soft but focused. She spoke delicately, and it was clear she was trying to say her

words in as easy a way as possible. Lewis finished the thought for her.

"You're leaving."

K'Shai nodded silently.

Soon, the human group headed along the streets, somewhere both behind and between the Yautja

hunters as R'chnt and the others both lead the humans and spread out to the perimeters around them.

It was not very often at all that the Yautja were even with the human group, but when they were somewhere

within a close distance, it was most typical for them to be far off, often out of sight, surveying the

perimeters.

This time, though, things were a little different, as R'chnt was not willing to leave the human

group totally abandoned until they were at their destination because K'Shai wanted to ensure that her

friends reached safety.

For days, the two groups walked on. They trudged through rain, and walked until night fall stopped them.

They rested quietly and briefly as they needed, and resupplied whenever they passed a town, a mall, or any other useful building they could find necessities.

They found more survivors along the way and took them into the fold of their group as they went, spreading the word about the safety of the city they were headed and infusing all of the new survivors with hope.

K'Shai and the others had gotten more used to the wide eyed looks on each newcomer's face every time they saw the Yautja.

She found it a little amusing, especially when it became clear by the looks she received that each new person had been informed through the gossip vine about she and R'chnt.

Whenever they were on the move, K'Shai remained near the human group. Whenever they rested, K'Shai remained as tightly close to R'chnt as possible and disappeared completely out of sight with him whenever she could.

The journey would be long, and it was tiresome. Not everyone was used to putting in the sheer amount of miles every day as they now were, and K'Shai found it increasingly easier to fatigue as they reached the halfway point after five days.

She remained silent while the group sat and rested in the middle of a road between shops and strip malls and long empty gas stations, eating heated up beans and Spaghettios that had been turned up from one of the stores.

She scanned her surroundings, not immediately seeing R'chnt or any of the other Yautja. She assumed that they had fanned out into a wider perimeter.

Once the group got walking again, they barely made it to the edge of town before people at the back gasped with fright and all heads turned as some called out.

"Oh! Cassandra!"

K'Shai turned to see three Yautja decloaking just feet away from the scattering humans, weapons at the ready, though they were clearly surveying the travelling band of people. They were hunters she did not recognize.

Two were obviously following their leader's direction. The leader was an elder for sure, but not quite as aged as R'chnt.

The startled people had moved away and cleared a path for K'Shai as all heads turned to her looking for direction as she approached the three hunters warily and spoke to them in their own language.

"You are K'Shai?" The Leader said with a bit of a chuckled surprise. "I have heard of you. Not quite what I was expecting."

"Someone taller, perhaps?" K'Shai asked with amusement.

She could not help but to smile as she watched the reactions of both humans and Yautja at the discovery of her unusual situation.

The elder Leader clicked idly and introduced himself, gripping her shoulder tightly in a Yautja version of a handshake.

"So, where is that old fool R'chnt?"

K'Shai tipped her head sideways and stared at the Leader who would dare to insult R'chnt conveniently enough while he was not around. He obviously understood her glare because he immediately pulled away dismissively.

"I mean no offense, K'Shai. R'chnt is my brother by the same father."

Her face lightened and she nodded graciously just a R'chnt appeared on the other side of the human group, and again, all heads turned towards him as he roared an elated greeting and strode readily through the parting crowd of surprised onlookers, greeting his kin readily with a firm clamp on the shoulder with one hand and placing the other on K'Shai's shoulder.

"I thought you had been killed," R'chnt said.

"It will take more than a few angry Queens to kill me, brother."

"K'Shai, I once watched him get dragged into a pit fifty feet below ground with two massive _tjrd'itz_ and I thought for sure he was being torn apart. All of a sudden, he pops out, with barely a scratch and climbs out of the pit with one head on a spear and the other tied by its tendrils around his waist." R'chnt said informed her.

She smiled, not knowing what a _tjrd'itz_ was, but it clearly was enough to impress R'chnt. The group returned on their journey, and R'chnt filled his brother and his small group about the plan.

"I'm still amazed that a hybrid offspring could even be conceived," he said to K'Shai in wonder as she sat next to R'chnt eating under the moonlight late at night while the humans rested in a building across the street for the night, watching the aliens lingering outside.

"You mate with him and still keep at his side," he started curiously. "How unusual."

"There are some differences between how humans do things and Yautja." K'Shai said.

R'chnt grunted as he pulled her in a bit closer to him. "Enjoyable differences."

K'Shai was certain she could feel her face flush and wondered if the Yautja recognized the response.

The following day, the group continued on as much as they could through a gentle rain, but as the weather turned more severe, the decision was made to stop the journey for the day, despite knowing that it would add more time before they reached their destination.

They headed to a nearby subdivision and most of the group started finding their way into homes for a dry place to sleep and any extra supplies they could find when suddenly the Yautja, alarmed, moved off with haste.

"Where are they going?" Lewis asked as K'Shai's eyes followed the backs of the hunters disappearing at the edge of the subdivision.

She shrugged and continued walking with he and Carlos as a few others scanned the next house and made an entry when suddenly they heard intense howls from beyond the edge of the once well-manicured entrance to the gated community.

By the time K'Shai and any of the others rounded the corner of one of the homes and looked through the steady rain, they were amazed as what they saw.

R'chnt, full on angry, paced with flared tusks before three young, heavily armored Yautja, the headstrong leader of which clearly was torn between bow-headed obedience and giving respect that the proven Elder deserved and killing him when his back was turned.

R'chnt struck the leader of the young group hard, slamming him down to the muddy ground in the rain while he howled again over him. The rest of the Yautja were encircled, watching in silence, and K'Shai took a clue from and stayed well away, giving plenty of space to the at-odds Yautja.

The young leader jumped up furiously and charged at R'chnt, clearly trying to topple him down, but sorely missing the mark as R'chnt moved aside and slammed his gauntlet down into the hunter's back, slamming him face first into the mud once again.

The young hunter screamed in frustration and pulled his tusks out of the mud, clumps of dirt falling off them as he did so. He flipped over, though still on the ground, it was obvious he was thinking about aiming his shoulder cannon at R'chnt, although he clearly hesitated, which gave R'chnt more micro seconds than he even needed to thrust his sword into the throat of the would-be leader with a howl.

K'Shai had seen R'chnt killing _kainde amedha_. She had seen him furious at the vile queens of the _hard meat_ and she had seen him killing the drone bugs with nothing more than his wrist blades.

She had seen him at his peak of full on battle, and at his most gentle as he carefully mated with her. She had never seen him so enraged as he was then, puffing out and making a prominent display as he demanded respect and obedience from the young new comers.

R'chnt did not make the killing blow. Instead, he did something worse in the eyes of the Yautja. His voice resounded and K'Shai heard the words easily. R'chnt demanded respect from the youngsters and allowed them to follow his lead without question.

"All are needed in this fight," he said to the grounded young hunter. "Do not question me!"

The youngsters, with their longer faces, longer heads, and armor so heavy it almost made them look robotic compared to the sparse armor and leather R'chnt and the others wore, were clearly unhappy with the idea of exactly who was in charge, but after the display, it seemed at least for the moment, R'chnt's leadership was uncontested.

He left the young hunters to their own devices and moved past his group until he came to a stop between them and where K'Shai stood.

As K'Shai clearly paced on the spot obviously wanting to join him but unsure if she should or not, he turned a straight-fingered palm towards her, obviously stopping her and she turned and left the area with Lewis and Carlos quickly behind her.

"What was all that about?" Carlos questioned quickly. "A challenge on his authority?"

K'Shai nodded to him.

"Have to be a fool to challenge R'chnt," Lewis added in and K'Shai smiled softly at him.

R'chnt rounded the corner and K'Shai quickly joined him, disappearing with him soon after into one of the houses far removed from all the others, at the far end of the subdivision down a couple adjacent lanes.

"Everything alright now?" She asked him once they were inside the home. She started rustling through the closets and kitchen for useful items and towels to dry off while R'chnt slowly paced behind her through the rooms.

"They are of the _M'jon Clan,_ " he said ominously.

"I want you to stay well clear of them. Do not go near them. If they take have problems, they must come to me and I will kill them."

She nodded readily, clearly understanding that he was concerned for her safety.

"Why did you let that one live?" She asked simply, patting her hair dry.

"They are capable fighters and have done nothing wrong."

"He challenged you?!" She said surprised.

"He is young, impulsive, the strongest of his group and survived when his leader did not."

"And he thinks he will be able to challenge you?"

R'chnt tipped his head and clicked his upper mandibles together, but said nothing.

K'Shai smiled and approached him, placing her palm on his chest. "So you just tossed him around so he reconsiders challenging you before he even does?"

R'chnt nodded. "Yes."

"Just stay away from him," he repeated.

"I will. Come on," she said, grabbing his hand and pulling him along behind her as she bounded out of the kitchen, through the living room and turned up the stairs.

Part way up the stairs R'chnt grabbed K'Shai by the hips and she turned towards him; a rare moment that she was eye to eye with him, as he stood three steps down and leaned into her. She reached to him, immediately gasping lightly, kissing him along his cheek as he growled a deep, pleased purr and they both collapsed onto the stairs.

R'chnt ran his hands under K'Shai's garments and pulled off her shirt hurriedly while she unclipped his chest armor to the sound of his aroused growls.

She feverishly unlaced her boots and crawled backwards up the stairs, removing her pants, socks, and underwear quickly as she did, while R'chnt unclipped his belt and removed his armor that covered his thighs and loins and let his growing erection hang loose as he too crawled up the stairs, hovering over K'Shai.

They reached the top of the stairs, the master bedroom was only a dozen or so feet away, but K'Shai stretched her body onto the landing while her feet dangled down the stair case and R'chnt climbed fully on top of her, aroused and worked up, panting and growling.

She spread her legs to accommodate his massive erection as her body wetted itself in excited anticipation of penetration.

R'chnt groped her with his large hands, long tusks and talons and hovered over her so closely she could feel the dripping tip of his shaft rubbing against her lower abdomen. She gripped his bare arms tightly and felt his body tremble, aroused both from the recent fight and the drive to mate.

"I need you in me, R'chnt. I want to feel you …" K'Shai barely whispered through panting breaths as she shut her eyes as listened to him groan.

He lowered his hips into just the right angle and K'Shai squealed as she felt the tip of his shaft find its way through her hairs and between her skin folds and into her opening. R'chnt penetrated into her carefully and thrust his massive erection completely inside her as she groaned her readiness for him to take her.

Immediately, he began pumping, pulling almost fully out and driving himself deep into her in rhythm with their panted breaths and K'Shai's pleasure filled moans.

R'chnt howled, aroused completely, as he pumped into his mate faster and faster, pounding his hips forward harder as she groaned for him to do so. To the accompaniment of her squeals, R'chnt growled and ejaculated forcefully, filling her inside completely with his warm load as K'Shai tipped her head and smiled widely at him.

R'chnt panted and held himself still over her, still depositing his load into her as his penis throbbed with satisfaction. He braced himself up and she moaned with delight, gripping her small hands around his powerful forearms while he nudged her gently with his tusks.

They caught their breath and K'Shai whispered to R'chnt.

"Let's go to the bedroom."

They rested quietly for a few hours before R'chnt left K'Shai in the house for safety and rejoined the rest of the hunters outside for several hours until he returned to her with meat and drink.

"Thank you!" She said with a smile and after eating her fill she stretched backwards along the bed, arching her back, thrusting her breasts forward as she stretched her shoulders and yawned lightly.

R'chnt leaned over her, one arm on each side of her body and smiled at her.

"What's happening out there? Still raining, I hear." She whispered.

R'chnt nodded. "Mostly everyone is resting."

"Where are the three new M'jon hunters?"

"I have them scouring a perimeter ten miles wide."

K'Shai laughed loudly and wrapped her arms him.

She shifted her body and rolled herself on top of him, forcing him onto his back below her and she leaned into him, kissing him delicately, exploring his body fully with her mouth as she licked rain water from his thick skin and pressed her body into the warmth of him, listening to the sound of his breath.

He ticked his mandibles together lightly, clicking with delight as K'Shai tongued the quills along his chin and temple and groped his chest with her hands while straddling his abdomen.

R'chnt slid his hands along her body and caressed her belly, eyeing her abdomen carefully, with all the curiousness that any man might look at the womb of his growing child. She sat back and encouraged him to do so, resting her palms along the back of his hands as he slid his fingers back and forth along her belly.

She was still learning about the differences in Yautja couples and families over humans, but she knew enough to understand that males had nothing to do with their children short of conceiving them, until they were of an age to begin to learn to fight, hunt, and prepare for their coming of age blooding hunt. Even then, it was only typical that sons hunted with their fathers, and daughters learned all that they needed from their mothers.

She knew that bloodlines were everything to a Yautja, and who mated with who was important, with the goal of producing the best bloodlines.

Family, as far as heritage extended, was greatly important to the Yautja, but she had come to figure out at least, that males were not around to watch their own children grow in the mother's womb, nor see them born. As R'chnt curiously tickled her belly with the ends of his talons, she knew he was watching his unborn child grow for probably the first time in his life.

After a short silence, K'Shai leaned forward into him, kissing his chest while he caressed her sides and hips and ran his fingers between her thighs, groping her crotch, arousing her, making her wet.

She slid her mouth further down his abdomen, her hands gently caressing the length of his now full erection and the balls below as R'chnt howled delightfully.

She could feel the tension in his body slowly ease as she pleasured him with her lips and mouth, offering him sensations unlike anything he could experience with a female Yautja.

She gaped her jaw and inserted his dripping shaft between her lips and teeth and tongue and R'chnt arched his back and tipped his head back and growled excitedly, thrusting his hips forward slightly as her hands groped him fully while she moaned lightly and sucked forcefully on his most sensitive part.

She slid her hands along his shaft matching the rhythm of his arousal and felt him finally release much of the tension he was carrying, seconds before he released an entire load of warm juices into her mouth.

K'Shai eased her grip, swallowed and shut her eyes, listening to R'chnt moan below her, fully satisfied for the second time that evening and she groped his warm, heaving body lightly with her hands.

She fell asleep curled into his body shortly after cleaning herself up, and awoke in the morning to find R'chnt still resting heavily next to her.

She barely moved, not wanting to disturb him, and listened to him breathing for a few minutes before he stirred and she greeted him with a wide smile and a groan about even having to get up from the bed to return to the group.

He assured her they would have more laid back days as soon as they could.

"Oh, I'm holding you to that." She said with a smile as she lightly teased him while they headed down the stairs.

He grabbed her and pulled her close to him as he touched the bottom floor and K'Shai wrapped her legs around his abdomen and her arms around his neck.

She kissed him repeatedly, groping his jaw with her tongue and fondling his long thick hair with both hands around him.

"We still have _some_ time, right?" She whispered to him through panted breath as her body churned.

R'chnt growled a deep laugh and turned his head towards her, clearly calculating just that very thing for a moment. She smiled eagerly and he spread his upper tusks into a thin smile.

K'Shai kissed his tusks and chin and ran her tongue into his mouth as he opened his jaws to accommodate her. She tightened her thighs around his abdomen as he shifted his grip between her thighs and she ran her hands along his shoulders.

She nodded towards the sofa and they both toppled over on a corner of it as R'chnt laid on top of her. Brimming with a flood of arousing sensations, K'Shai kicked her clothes off quickly and helped R'chnt out of the restricting confines of his armor belt.

He clicked his mandibles together in aroused excitement as K'Shai groped his groin and made him grow to meet her.

Wet and ready, K'Shai spread her legs, feeling the tense dripping dip of R'chnt's penis finding its way into her without delay.

She leaned back along the sofa, halfway draped over the leather chaise end section and stretched her body across the next seat.

R'chnt knelt awkwardly halfway on the floor and halfway on the end of the sofa to get just the right angle as he pressed himself into her and made her moan again and again. K'Shai's delighted moans were echoed perfectly by R'chnt's own chuffing and moaning as he pumped ever harder and harder into her as she beckoned him to

Surging with excitement and aroused to the peak, R'chnt growled loudly and held his body still, hovering, only slightly awkwardly over K'Shai as he came fully inside of her to her satiated quiet moans, while both their heated sweat bodies heaved and throbbed.

R'chnt lowered his jaws against K'Shai's heaving chest, caressing her breasts gently as he spread his mandibles clean across both sides of her body and groped her with his mouth while he huffed and caught his breath.

"Maybe you _will_ wear me out, K'Shai." He said lightly.

She laughed solidly and huffed, trying to bring her breathing back to normal.

"Oh, see!"

"It must be the hormones from the baby. I feel so good… powerful. Thank you." She said, sitting upright and pressing herself into him again with a wide smile.

R'chnt slumped back on the floor, against the sofa and K'Shai slid down into him, straddling him softly as he finally slowed his own breathing back down.

She kissed him passionately several times and paused, holding her breath.

"Do you hear that?" She said, sure she had hear a high pitched squeal emanating from somewhere outside, perhaps on the other side of the house.

"It's the _ooman_ children," R'chnt said.

"Oh, nuts." K'Shai said, pulling herself off of him and quickly dressing. "I don't know why they're all the way over here. I don't want them so far from the group. I better get them back."

She scurried out of the front of the house leaving R'chnt to finish re-dressing and hustled the children away from the _Yautja end_ of the subdivision.

They walked down the street and cut a corner through a large shared yard between several of the homes, K'Shai answering some of the more awkward questions the children asked about just what she was doing with R'chnt as vaguely as possible when movement caught her eye approaching her and the three young children, Kelly, Tyler, and Tracy, from between some adjacent homes.

K'Shai eyed the approaching hunters from the _M'jor_ clan and her smile quickly turned to a lock jawed glare as the pompous young would-be leader spat with a growl. The children came a terrified stop.

"I _knew_ there was something not right about R'chnt." He said. "I can smell you all over him!"

He laughed loudly and turned slightly back to his two followers, who looked mostly reluctant to approach at all.

"Look, she even has a blooding mark! What fools! The whole K _aunte Dareen_ clan has lost its mind! And here…" he sneered, "… I thought it was only R'chnt that was insane."

Kelly yanked on K'Shai's shirt sleeve and K'Shai flinched, almost forgetting the children were even there. She turned to them quickly and whispered and harsh warning.

"Kids, go ahead back to the group. _Now_. Run. Go. OK?"

The children backed off, but K'Shai did not notice them run as she had told. She turned her gaze back to the approaching hunter, who extended a lengthy blade from the underside of his gauntlet and growled.

"Well, now, if you are supposed to be a Yautja," he howled delightfully, "prove it!"

He charged at K'Shai with a loud growl and the children shrieked in fright from somewhere behind her. K'Shai dodged the blow and the Yautja turned on her and struck again and again. K'Shai reached for her own dagger as the relentless Yautja charged again and again like a raging bull, more angry every time she evaded his blows.

He moved quickly, but she stayed slightly faster, using fear-driven agility to avoid his deadly blows. She was barely aware of the shrieking children or the shouts of the human group as they ran into the scene and aimed weapons.

The young brazen hunter struck again with his fist and managed to knock K'Shai to the ground. He quickly delivered a cutting blow and K'Shai howled in pain as his gauntlet blade streaked across her collar bone and sliced deep.

Dazed by the pain K'Shai remained motionless for just a split second, which was all the young would be leader needed to get his hands on her. He grappled her by the head and dragged her across the ground backwards, yanking her up against him, clenching her chest so tightly with his powerful arm she could barely breathe.

He was crushing her ribs slightly, pressing her between his unrelenting grip of his armor gauntlet and the plating over his chest.

K'Shai howled, her hand still clenching the blade that had once been lodged into her thigh.

"Let her go!" Lewis howled as half a dozen men aimed their guns.

The young Yautja was unimpressed, but readied his shoulder cannon all them same as he growled and tasted the air in his mouth.

"An abomination grows in you!" He said to her with surprise.

She howled forcefully, kicking her legs wildly against his him and slammed her dagger into the side of his abdomen. He growled in surprise and pain and dropped K'Shai to the ground just as a loud roar filled the air followed by a brief, but sudden silence.

K'Shai, bleeding profusely from the gaping wound in her shoulder and hunkered on the ground, barely perceived R'chnt charging onto the scene with the savage challenge of death, but she heard his body collide into her attacker's with a tremendous thud like two cars hitting each other at fifty miles an hour.

For a few moments, everything happened quickly and K'Shai tried to keep up with events through a daze. W'rsa approached her quickly as Lewis and Carlos both jogged close, but stopped abruptly as W'rsa yanked K'Shai to her feet and out of the way of the fight.

R'chnt bellowed a deadly call and slammed the young hunter again and again with his fists and armor gauntlets, hitting him repetitively until the youngster could barely stand and his mandibles has been broken, his skull cracked.

R'chnt circled wildly, drawing out a sword from his belt and watched the young wishful leader crawling away from him.

Enraged and disgusted by the action, R'chnt howled again and slammed his sword through the hunter's thigh, withdrew and impaled him again through the other thigh, urging him to at least face his death with some amount of dignity.

W'rsa urged K'Shai clear of the situation and tried to move her behind the watching pack, but she stood her ground in the front of the group just beyond his arm length while Lewis and Carlos and the rest of the human onlookers stared in awestruck terrified wonder between her and R'chnt, who rounded again on the fallen alien.

With a start, the young hunter flipped over and attempted to dislodge R'chnt's footing. He missed his mark. R'chnt jumped clear to one side, and the youth suddenly scrambled away from him, halfway falling flat on his face as he did.

In a fraction of a second, his attack was clear. He was headed for K'Shai and R'chnt jumped towards him as K'Shai, still holding her dagger in a trembling left hand, shouted in pure rage with the most Yautja-esque howl her lungs could manage.

She lunged forward as the cursing and wounded hunter darted forward, howling some insult of which K'Shai only heard to word "disgrace".

R'chnt, wielding his sword and howling, ready to make the striking blow jumped towards the hunter's back, but K'Shai, seeing red had already lunged beyond W'rsa's reach and towards the charging attacker.

She thrust her dagger forward with all her might and felt the hunter's skin pop and the blade grit against bone as she drove it upwards through his chin and towards the back of his head, using the inertia of his own charge to help push the blade deeper into his skull than she could have on her own.

The attack stopped and for a moment no one, including R'chnt moved or even appeared to breathe.

K'Shai's blade had been so deeply rooted inside the skull of her would-be killer that her fingers went right inside the freshly made cavity through his chin, into the back of his throat.

The Yautja gurgled on his own blood and collapsed, ripping her grip loose on the slippery blade handle.

Her left arm was glowing fluorescent green with his blood and as her body trembled, her right arm and entire right side of her body was covered with fresh, dark red blood from her own wound.

She dropped to the ground with a gasp and R'chnt hopped to her side, scooping her up with alarm and without a word, he carried her through the still-stunned Yautja onlookers and out of view of the silent human group.

He carried her back down the street, covering the distance back to the house they had spent the night in quickly.

Without delay, R'chnt brought K'Shai inside and delicately placed her on the sofa, tending to her wounds as she struggled to remain conscious. W'rsa and two others entered and kept a careful eye on the situation.

"What about the other two, R'chnt?" W'rsa asked.

"I'll deal with them later," he growled sharply as he tended to K'Shai.

She did not remember passing out and was not aware of how much time had passed once she woke up, but when she opened her eyes, she was alone in the house, though through the window she could see R'chnt just beyond the front porch of the house, a few other hunters further away.

K'Shai stiffly stretched and winced with pain from her shoulder injury, then stood and headed outside.

"What's going on?" She whispered with alarm as she approached R'chnt wide-eyed, staring between him and Lewis, just feet before him.

All heads turned towards her and suddenly, though it was obvious R'chnt and Lewis were conversing before she approached, a silence fell and for a moment, no one responded.

"Your friends are… _concerned_ for you." R'chnt said as he approached the porch, on the other side of the railing.

K'Shai glanced appreciatively to Lewis. "Lewis, I'm fine. I'll be fine."

He gritted his teeth and glanced to R'chnt, almost as if silently gauging if it would be alright to talk to her.

"You almost got killed!"

K'Shai held her palm up. "Lewis. I'll be alright."

She walked towards them both, stopping at R'chnt's shoulder.

"I will protect her." R'chnt said.

"That doesn't do a hell of a lot of good if _you're_ not around!" Lewis snapped.

"Lewis!" K'Shai hissed.

"She's carrying _your baby_." He growled angrily at R'chnt. "What happens if you die?"

R'chnt glared at the small human and growled, stepping towards him. "K'Shai is part of my clan. She will be protected. And she will be returning to the ship."

"No!" K'Shai protested immediately.

"You must." R'chnt commanded plainly.

"I won't leave. Not now." She stared at R'chnt, unwavering. "Not until my friends are safe."

Lewis shook his head, clearly trying to figure out what to say next while Carlos and Russell stared between the three of them in stunned silence.

"Cassandra, you have to go. So you can be safe." Lewis repeated.

"I am _not_ leaving R'chnt." K'Shai growled again.

"You didn't tell him, did you?" Lewis said suddenly, realizing that her refusal to leave him was more prompted by her certainty that she had foreseen his death.

"Tell me what?" R'chnt questioned with a deep voice.

Before she could stop him, Lewis had abruptly informed R'chnt of the details of their shared vision that she had not. R'chnt turned to K'Shai and gently caressed her face as she stepped closer to him. He reached to her and picked her up, pulling her over the railing of the front porch, and holding her tightly.

In a language Lewis and the others could not understand, R'chnt spoke to K'Shai of his Path.

"It is with you, but not even I know where it ends."

"I am _not_ _leaving_." She whispered simply to him.


	30. Chapter 29

**CHAPTER TWENTY NINE**

The days ticked by slowly, hour by hour, the two groups walked on towards their destination.

Slowly, people began to focus less on the destruction and vacant towns around them and more on the re-colonization of the human race.

K'Shai noticed, with some great relief, how the whispered murmurs amongst the group changed from gossip and condescending sneers about her situation to happily spoken suppositions about the city they would be arriving at soon.

"Well," Lewis said as he checked the map one more time as the group rested in the middle of an abandoned street, somewhere between a parking lot of a long-raided convenient store an over grown grassy playground.

"At this rate, we should be within the pick-up radius by…." he paused, calculating some distances as the children played and laughed nearby. "Tomorrow late in the afternoon. Maybe just before dark."

K'Shai smiled thinly as the group around her hooted and hollered their delight.

The Yautja were just returning to the group and she joined them as they sat down on a grassy spot only a few dozen meters from the human party.

R'chnt remained watchful of K'Shai, but he did as he needed as well and throughout many hours of the days as the two groups walked, and often at night, the hunters were usually gone, canvassing the surroundings, searching for straggling drones, untouched egg fields, or any signs of hives.

The Yautja army that had come to Earth to resolve the dishonor that had been cast upon the people, had been succeeding in their task.

The costs were dear and high, and while the humans gave little sympathy to the hunters for their loss of life, K'Shai knew all too well how many hunters had died to right the wrongs of just a few, and she could see, although he would deny it if ever brought into question, the exhaustion that R'chnt and the others in the group suffered from.

Without the humans following them, the hunters could easily cover three, even four times as much ground, and while they do their duty without even the slightest hint of complaint, and they heal their wounds, rest for a while and get up and do it all again, K'Shai knew the unspoken reality that the Yautja race was suffering nearly as much as the humans.

She sat quietly near R'chnt who sliced the skin off of a rabbit and put half of it over the fire, much to the chagrin of the others who preferred their meat raw.

They had gotten used to, and accepted K'Shai's oddities and differences and the group conversed lightly as they rested for a while and ate and drank.

K'Shai glanced around to the weary group of humans. Their tired faces were only just barely overridden by expressions of hope about where the future might lead.

The rest was brief, but well needed and once refreshed, the groups moved on together, though, much to K'Shai's pleasure, the hunters did not go far at all, and throughout the rest of the afternoon, R'chnt walked nearly side by side with her from a position in front of the human group.

"We should stop here, this is a good spot. Sheltered." Lewis called out bringing K'Shai to a stop just a moment before R'chnt.

It was nearly dark. The short winter days made for limited travelling.

Every day was a toss-up between walking during the darkness of the early morning and evening or pushing for a faster pace in the daylight hours, despite worsening weather. For a rare instance, everyone in the group seemed to agree with the decision to stop for the evening as the sun lowered past the horizon completely.

"Tomorrow night, we're going to be at the start of something new!" Someone announced to the group, holding a mug in the air.

"Here's to everything we've survived and the start of a better life."

His toast was echoed with cheers and hoorahs and happy smiles.

K'Shai just leaned deeper into R'chnt's chest and shut her eyes, content, not thinking on the least of what tomorrow would bring.

The night passed quickly and the human group was up and already beginning a morning meal barely before the sun had even cracked the horizon. K'Shai watched with an amused smile as the hunters, well rested from their half a day break, engaged sportingly in some jovial sparring, which to most of the awakening human group looked like an all-out fight.

R'chnt called to her as she nodded graciously. She stepped to him and took his sword as he squared off with her, weapons away.

"What about your blade?" She asked and R'chnt huffed.

"You're not going to scratch me."

K'Shai was quite sure she could feel her face flush. The sword was heavy in both her hands.

R'chnt wielded the weapon smoothly, single handedly, but K'Shai found herself having trouble adjusting to the feel of it over the plasma caster. She decided, much against his more traditional preference, that she preferred modern weapons.

She sparred with him, listening carefully to his direction and trying her best to repeat what she was shown, to the growing curiosity of the human spectators who seemed to pick up on the relaxed mood of the early morning and drew in a bit closer.

"Focus!"

R'chnt growled, although in a rather playful tone that maybe only she could recognize as she lost concentration a little when he leaned close into her and slid his hands across her body and arms as he showed her what to do.

Smiling, and just slightly red in the face from a little more than just exertion of sparring, K'Shai sat for a rest when her body told her to do so, and one of the men from the spectating group tiptoed near to her as though she might bite.

He was a new addition to the group, clearly still uncertain about K'Shai and her close relationship with R'chnt and the other Yautja. She was not sure what his name was. He warily looked from R'chnt, who had turned his attention to sparring with another of his group. He went to speak, but was cut off by another voice.

"Don't they ever get tired of that?" Lewis asked as he crouched down next to K'Shai.

She smiled and raised her eyebrows thoughtfully, glancing to the sparring Yautja.

"I don't know. That kind of life, you get tired, you die."

"He teaches you well. Carefully." The other man said and K'Shai nodded slowly.

"Would he spar with me?"

She shot him a sort of ' _are you serious'_ look, but said nothing. Lewis and Carlos both glanced at him as though he was nuts for even considering it, but the man remained lock jawed and eyeing K'Shai.

"I would like to see if I can learn from him." He added after a silence.

Clearly picking up on K'Shai's uncertainty after another lingering silence in which they both looked at the hunters, sparring so forcefully it was a little hard to tell that they weren't actually trying to bring harm to one another, he added in his self-defense resume.

"I have acquired seven black-belts in my thirty-eight years. And have studied weaponry since I was three."

K'Shai nodded appreciatively. "I know. I've seen you fight." She paused. "I don't think it's a good idea."

Lewis chimed in.

"Cassy, didn't you say he's like four-hundred years old?"

She nodded and noticed the man's eyes widen a little, before he cast a downward glance, looking just a bit disappointed.

She watched R'chnt take a final few strikes against his sparring partner before he pulled to a halt and looked about, intending to gather his group together to continue the final stretch of distance to bring the human group to their safety, but K'Shai stood and approached him and whispered to him softly.

R'chnt nodded, his tusks spreading into an amused smile. K'Shai turned back and with a subtle glance she gestured for the man to prepare for a spar, smiling thinly as she imagined it would be most unlike anything he was expecting.

The man stepped forward eagerly, quickly, as if someone had just fired a gun at the back of his heels. The man drew out his own sword from its sheath and R'chnt, howling delightfully, spurred his group into a wide circle as he squared off with the man.

The two danced around each other, their weapons clanging together loudly and furiously. It was obvious the man was making a valid attempt, and no doubt seemed certain that he was impressing all the spectators.

The Yautja clamored and howled, egging the two on. R'chnt roared and made the man's face flush white several times while a few people in the group cheered him in his efforts.

"That's it. You got it!" One hollered.

"Get him down," another person called.

K'Shai watched quietly, Lewis not far from her shoulder shaking his head.

"He's being toyed with." He muttered and K'Shai cast him a wide amused grin.

Finally someone in the group called out that very fact.

"Oh dude, he's playing with you. He's barely made an effort."

"Not good! Back up! Back up!" Someone called, trying to coach from the sidelines.

The pair clashed on. The man made every effort. R'chnt continued to dance lightly on his feet, powerfully and agily moving about, striking on a few half-hearted blows.

K'Shai heard the calls of the rest of the hunters switched from only mildly amused to mostly bored within only a few minutes and R'chnt switched into a whole new gear, roaring furiously, to the heightened howls of his group.

He slammed his weapon hard and in two simple blows had disarmed his sparring partner and dropped him to the ground with a thud so hard for a moment he didn't move and K'Shai halfway wondered if he cracked his head on the pavement.

Gracefully, though, the man hopped back to his feet as R'chnt stopped and waited to see what the next move was going to be. R'chnt held his weapon ready, prepared for a second round, but the man, clearly shaking and overwhelmed by the power of the massive Yautja hunter, instead withdrew his sword to his side and bowed out.

In no time, the two groups were once again moving on, drawing ever closer to the pick-up zone as directed by the conversation Lewis had had with the safe city.

Once they were near enough, within a certain radius, armored trucks and armed escorts would retrieve any and all survivors, and those deemed parasite free would be granted admittance. No one asked what would happen to anyone who carried one of the little monsters inside their chest; they did not need to ask.

It was nearly mid-afternoon when the band of survivors had made their way through a rubble-filled town, past a vast stretch of wide open country highway and began to see some buildings of a city looming in the distance.

"Is that it?" Kelly asked eagerly, pointing along the roadway. "Is that where we are going?"

Lewis nodded. "That's it. We'll be within the pick-up radius in a couple hours."

Elated cheers filled the streets and the conversation, for just a short while, turned to excitement as people envisioned the safety that was awaiting them, and wondered if any of their loved ones or friends had made it there.

Suddenly, breaking the excited mood of the group, R'chnt growled as his armor beeped and he pressed a button. K'Shai, listened as the quick call from another hunting party echoed out, alerting anyone who would pick up the signal that they had uprooted a queen and hive and had tracked them to within just miles of the very destination the group now headed.

R'chnt led his group away quickly, with only a fleeting parting word to K'Shai and she could not help but feel her spine tingle as he left. Nerves suddenly shot up amongst the group and the rest of the walk, for two more hours, was a silent one.

As the group treaded into the wide streets of the small city, they glanced around quietly, weapons ready out of instinct. Although it was quiet, they listened for every slightest little sound, from the chirping of a bird to the flapping wings of a flock of pigeons that took off when they turned a corner, and they heard a small scraping sound which caught their attention.

All weapons aimed for the direction of the sound and the group exhaled a simultaneous sigh when a dirty looking dog strutted out.

"Just stop! Don't come any further." A voice called out, echoing in the streets.

"Hello?" Lewis called out. "Come out! Where are you?"

"Are you the pick up?" He tried again after he was greeted with silence.

Finally a small group appeared in the street, three men and two women, looking dirty and battered and weary.

"You're… you're here for the pick up?" A woman in the group questioned as she stepped forward and brushed her dark golden hair from her eyes.

"We are. I'm Lewis."

"Janelle." The woman said, reaching her arm forward and delicately shaking hands with Lewis. "We've already called them. They're coming."

K'Shai's eyes gazed from the middle aged woman to the men standing behind her. They were bloody, patched up, and looked ragged.

"We've been here for just a short while, waiting." The woman added. "We barely got away. I don't know how safe we…"

Her words were cut off when an explosion suddenly jolted everyone's attention away. The dog that was scrapping around the opposite street corner had been blown into non-existent pieces by a Yautja plasma caster and suddenly, with speed and alarm, R'chnt and the group appeared, sending the five in Janelle's group into a frenzy of panic as they shouted and readied their weapons while K'Shai, Lewis, and a few others stopped them.

"No, keep them away! Monsters! They'll kill us all."

R'chnt, ignoring the woman's screams approached K'Shai and gripped her arm tightly, pulling her slightly away from the new people as the group sprawled out and R'chnt scanned the people and the building.

"There is a swarm approaching. A queen. You have minutes it is not safe for you here." He said quickly and then rounded on the stunned looking group of ragged people.

"What did he say?" Lewis urged.

"We have to leave. _Now_." K'Shai said without delay.

Janelle looked stunned, and refused to budge as the group began to depart.

"We must leave," Lewis and Carlos urged. "They won't hurt…"

He began to say as R'chnt leaned in and grabbed one of the beat up looking men, raising his arm and extending his wrist blades.

Janelle screamed and turned on R'chnt, clearly in a panic, ready to simply hit at him bare fisted, but K'Shai stepped in front of her and stared her down silently, realizing the man had begun coughing as he tried to howl at R'chnt to release him.

"No. There's nothing you can do." K'Shai said lightly.

"Please don't let him hurt my James. My James!" She cried.

K'Shai looked between the woman and the man, who had clearly given up and given in. R'chnt released his grip on the man and let him stand on his own feet at K'Shai's request.

She turned back to sobbing Janelle. "I'm sorry."

"There's help coming! They'll be able to help him! Please don't do this. Don't…" Janelle pleaded for her husband's life.

R'chnt growled impatiently, and K'Shai knew all too well, there was not time to deal with the situation, and his patience was limited.

"They can't help him. Not even _they_ ," K'Shai said, nodding to R'chnt, "can remove the larvae. I'm sorry. We have to go. It's not safe."

"It's alright dear." James said with a throaty stammer. "You need to leave. Get yourself to safety."

Janelle fell silent, and stared between the people before her and the towering alien amongst them. Her eyes lowered to the shining wrist blades mounted to the alien's right arm.

R'chnt growled out a series of sounds and Janelle looked to K'Shai quizzically, obviously seeing that she could understand the alien's words.

"He said it won't hurt."

Janelle hung her head low and sobbed loudly as the rest of her group moved in to support her.

James stood tall, gritted his teeth and R'chnt at least circled around behind him. K'Shai saw the man hold a deep, quivering breath and his wife dropped to the ground and wailed as the sounds of crunching bones filled the air.

With little consideration of the situation, R'chnt removed the carcass from his blades and immediately directed K'Shai to leave the area.

"Let's go, there's no…" she started to direct the others as R'chnt moved on quickly.

The sound of hisses and shrieks, satanic wails and aggravated Yautja bellows suddenly filled the street.

"Move!" People began to call.

"Wait! There's more of us inside!" Someone yelled out, but the battle quickly upon them.

The street erupted into a blaze of blue bursts of cannon fire as two hunter packs converged against a swarm of drones that flooded onto the scene, followed in hot pursuit by their Queen.

The group scrambled inside and ran up to the third floor of the building to retrieve the rest of the waiting party still inside the building. K'Shai only just barely had a fleeting moment to glance out of a nearby window and realize she was head to head with the rampaging queen when a small smattering of her drone minions crawled quickly and easily up the building right past her.

She readied her plasma caster and took aim only to notice that the majority of the bugs were headed right past the third floor and up onto the roof. Judging by the downward projected blasts of cannon fire, K'Shai knew there were at least three Yautja on the roof.

Not every drone passed by, though. At least three that she immediately noticed before she opened fire and backed up towards the group, had burst through the windows along the hallway, blocking the only exit to the stairwell.

"Fire escape!" Someone shouted and the group ran towards the emergency exit.

Some of the group made it out, a few held their ground as back up to K'Shai, who, firing quickly with her alien weapon, clearly did not need the support.

She killed three of the drones before her. Two more quickly jumped in and the queen outside shrieked in fury as the Yautja shot at her.

She slammed her tail through the windows, dragging it along powerfully as she tore right through bricks and pulled out a gaping hole into the building, which quickly got filled with her own acid blood and several shots from the Yautja opposite rooftop. K'Shai spun on her heels and out the fire exit after the others, quickly making her way up to the roof as the queen barely missed clawing her on the open stairs by only a few inches.

R'chnt was on the roof, just above her head and had fired a well-timed blast to knock the queen off her attack. K'Shai scrambled to a stop just behind him once on the roof and Lewis was only feet away, gaping wide eyed at the both of them.

"We have to get these people out of here!" He called aloud.

"See if there's a way off over there!" K'Shai yelled to him and three other men nearby.

The men started across the roof, away from the raging battle in the street, chauffeuring the rest of their terrified group with them.

K'Shai fired out another burst and stepped inches away from R'chnt, who suddenly bellowed loudly as the queen, raging wildly and bleeding profusely, lunged upward, easily scaling the building that was just a single story taller than she.

The beast clawed out and swished her tail, hitting into two hunters lined up along the roof, grabbing R'chnt in the thigh with her long talons and simultaneously hitting Lewis with her inner set of teeth as her mighty head lunged over the rooftop.

K'Shai was hit with the hard exoskeleton ridged shield that crowned the massive animal's head and was sent toppling backwards as the two other hunters both slammed into the roof while the queen, unable to keep her grip from being heavily injured and shot by the remaining hunters on the opposite roof top, fell backwards.

Her claws pulled out of R'chnt as he roared in pain and collapsed to his knees. The queen shriek, pulling her inner set of jaws out of Lewis' calf, but as she fell back, the powerful force of the queen's attack pulled him over the side of the roof with her.

"Lewis!" K'Shai howled and lunged towards the edge of the roof, trying to grab him before he fell.

She missed.

In an instant, R'chnt was on his feet and jumping off the roof. He grabbed Lewis two floors down and the fire escape at the same time and as K'Shai stared in wild wonder between the fallen queen in the street and R'chnt, they both disappeared through shattering glass panes back into the building.

She darted back down the fire escape, only barely bother to notice that the queen had charged across the street, trying to strike down the hunters that were torn between shooting her and shooting the attacking horde that came with her.

K'Shai ran into the building and eyed both R'chnt and Lewis. R'chnt was bleeding heavily, but standing. Lewis, grunting in pain, was beginning to get up.

"Are you OK?!"

She called out, although to Lewis it was unclear exactly who she was talking to. She ran forward, placing a gentle hand on R'chnt's abdomen and glancing him over at the same time as reaching out for Lewis to help him up.

Lewis knocked off some dirt and dust and quickly swiped at his injuries, smearing blood across his jeans and onto the sleeve of his shirt, but his eyes were, gratefully, locked onto R'chnt.

"Thank you." He said in a whisper and extended his hand towards the mighty alien.

R'chnt, having learned the human gesture of goodwill from K'Shai, paused only for a moment and slowly reached his right hand forward, gripping Lewis firmly, maybe just a little tighter than K'Shai had showed him, and nodded to Lewis without a word.

Outside, the battle raged on. K'Shai could hear the echoing voices of shouting people still up on the roof. Perhaps they had run back to the edge to see what was going on, she couldn't be sure but suddenly, the building shook.

The queen fell backwards into the building, crashing through acid and super-heated plasma damaged walls, already. She took out an entire corner and the building lurched forward with a groan.

R'chnt, K'Shai and Lewis all nearly fell over as the weak floor in the long-abandoned building cracked and rippled. The angry queen and her drone children surged and as the queen pulled away and regained her foot, charging forward again at the attacking Yautja before her, pieces of the building, clearly being supported by her, collapsed.

With a mighty quake, the roof fell in to the floor below and the debris punched through the floor R'chnt, K'Shai and Lewis stood on.

Under the weight of the rubble, that floor broke through with a mighty crunch, and unable to outrun the rift, all three were pulled down to the ground level along with nearly a dozen others who had tried, and failed, to flee.

Coughing and gagging and trembling in pain, the stunned people pulled themselves to their feet and tried to look through the heavy flume of dust and concrete ash to gauge the situation. R'chnt clasped onto K'Shai's arm and helped her up, looking her over.

"I'll be fine." She said to him quickly.

Her eyes lowered to the deep punctures along the side of his thigh to his knee. His skin was ripped apart and hanging, and though he clearly stepped lightly on the wound now covered in dirt and rubble, he started to turn to head back to the battle.

"Get out of here," he said quickly to her.

"Help!" One of the men called as he collapsed to the ground, digging feverishly under a pile of rubber being compressed by a support column.

"There's people trapped under there!" He yelled.

"Here! Help! Please!" One man called, having found four people who had been trapped by the collapse of the second and third floors onto the ground floor.

Three men tried desperately to move rubble, including a large stone column that was blocking a potential exit, but the beam would not budge. The group tried to dig out under it to no avail, hurriedly pulling broken slabs of stone and planks of wood while listening to the roar of the hunters, the hiss of the drone army and the rumble of the heavy vehicles that rolled in.

"It's not going to budge. We can't get them out!" One of the men said exasperatedly.

"Cassandra…." Lewis groaned, trying with all his might with three other men to move the beam.

He didn't need to finish the sentence. His eyes were glancing to R'chnt, who was nearly already to the gaping hole in the street. She called to him and spoke quickly.

R'chnt, grumbling with only a half interest, glanced out into the street and flagged down two hunters who were charging past on the heels of the queen who had lunged back into the street only a moment before.

The men looked about curiously, doubtlessly wondering exactly what was going on when the three Yautja approached the collapsed beam.

"Whoa! Whoa! Wait!" Two of the men howled almost simultaneously.

"It's alright. They're here to help. We have to get moving." K'Shai said quickly.

R'chnt quickly evaluated what she had asked him to do, and immediately gave directions which K'Shai quickly translated, directing all seven men to one side of the beam while the three Yautja took the other as K'Shai and Janelle did little more than watch for the moment.

On the cue given, the efforts of both groups together provided enough force to lift the beam enough to allow the trapped people slide out. K'Shai and Janelle knelt down and as quickly as possible pulled them free as both teams groaned and struggled to hold the beam up long enough to allow them to do so.

Once the last child was cleared out, the beam crashed back down.

"Thank you. Thank you!" One man turned to both R'chnt and K'Shai before he ran out of the building.

"Do you hear that?" Lewis said, stopping K'Shai for a moment.

She stopped and listened, straining to hear over the tremendous roar of the battle in the streets beyond.

"Tanks. That sounds like tanks." She said, hearing a rumble approaching.

Lewis watched her as R'chnt clamped a hand on her shoulder and spoke quickly.

She turned to him.

"K'Shai, go now."

"Let's go!" She urged to the others.

They cleared the building and immediately, R'chnt and the others disappeared around an adjacent corner through the haze of ash, acid, and weapons fire.

K'Shai and Lewis and the others ran the opposite direction, towards the sounds of the vehicles, which they found only two blocks away hurriedly loading up the survivors as the gun emplacements whirred to life and maintained an almost steady stream of fire.

A uniformed officer jumped down and greeted Lewis, introducing himself as a Major. Most of his words were drowned out by the fire, but it was obvious he was trying to hustle Carlos, Lewis, and K'Shai into the back of the one of the transport vehicles. Lewis stopped, and turned to K'Shai, whose attention was focused down the street.

The giant black form appeared through the thick haze, barely even visible for a moment. Her black body clashed dramatically with the white ash of destruction that covered nearly everything, and the whizzing blue flames bursting from the Yautja weapons every few seconds.

"Son of a bitch! Look at that crazy bastard!" The Major said, his attention now focused on the queen of the bugs.

All eyes diverted and there was R'chnt, holding onto the back of the massive satanic creature with one hand, spear in the other.

"I like his style!" The Major said with a snarky tone. "Come on, let's get you all safe."

For a moment, no one moved.

K'Shai stepped lightly forward, closer to Lewis and whispered. Her voice was weak, shaky, but Lewis and Carlos heard her clear enough. The scene on the whole just finally became so clear and apparent to her, and she suddenly felt a little as though she was watching the event unfold from somewhere else; somewhere far away.

"Smoke….."

She eyed them both widely, a look of fear and realization etched into her face as she turned back to the battle between the queen and R'chnt. The other hunters were moving in, clearly ready to strike from the ground.

It was hard to see them all, and see the events unfold properly as they weaved in and out of thick plumes of smoke and ash, but K'Shai did see the terrible queen rear up with a shriek. Her head swung backwards and met harshly with R'chnt's spear. The sound of the crushing bone was audible even more than a block away.

The queen dropped to the ground, writhing and R'chnt held still waiting until he appeared sure the animal was dead below him before he slid off.

"We really need to get a move on here, people!" The Major urged and again no one responded.

K'Shai stepped forward, feeling a sense of relief sweet over her as she released a breath she didn't even realize she was holding.

The thick smoke, the stench of acid, and the heat from numerous weapons burned her eyes, made it hard to focus, and hard to see down the distance, but she could hear, by the quiet that was falling over the street, that the battle was at an end.

"What now, Cassy?" Lewis prompted, glancing from the battle back to the truck behind them.

K'Shai glanced at the three men staring at her and turned again towards the smoky road when the roar filled her ears. The high pitched shriek had preceded it, but it was the roar that shot through K'Shai and made her heart miss several beats.

She just barely saw the queen moving quickly, a dying spasm or a last stand, she did not know, but the monstrous creature lunged forward, grabbing a tight hold on the hunter that had crossed her path in front of her face. She saw the hunter lift off the ground, blood pouring from his midsection as the powerful jaws of the massive animal cleaved him almost in two.

She barely perceived what was happening for only a fraction of a second. It all happened so fast and yet somehow so eerily slow at the same time. One second, she was watching R'chnt slide off the back of the beast as other hunters closed in. The next second came the terrible roar. The queen was moving and the scene turned glowing green in a moment.

K'Shai howled at the top of her lungs, wailing out a deathly sob as her eyes settled through the clearing smoke and ash on R'chnt, suspended easily fifteen feet off the ground, the queen's tail sticking through him. His blood was pouring down onto the street by the gallon as the other hunters shot and speared the animal.

The queen whipped her tail violently as she collapsed to the ground again and R'chnt was flung thirty feet across the road like a rag, slamming into a building where he disappeared completely out of sight as K'Shai howled and darted forward, moving in past stunned silent Yautja as Lewis and Carlos closed in at a dead run behind her.

K'Shai wailed and called for R'chnt, seeing him just barely through the fog, the outline of his body highlighted by the neon glow of his blood.

He was conscious and halfway propped upright against the building as though he just decided to sit down for a rest. He reached for her, coughing, gagging, weak, but calling her name. She cried for him and reached out to him, sobbing as she pressed her hands against the gaping wound on his lower right side as though she might stop the bleeding and put his intestines back in.

R'chnt, head lolling on his shoulders as though it was barely attached, growled a mournful moan filled with pain. He began to speak a slur of words that made little sense and K'Shai, through her tears urged him to be silent.

The hunters, W'rsa in the forefront, watched in silence as Carlos slammed to a kneeling halt next to R'chnt and cursed softly under his breath, looking at the seriously wounded alien.

"Do they have a doctor?" Carlos asked sharply.

K'Shai shook her head. The only one of the group with more advanced medical training than basic field wound care had been crushed between the teeth of the queen a fraction of a second before R'chnt was impaled.

"What about that shuttle of theirs?" Lewis asked quickly. "Can he be transported to a ship?"

Barely in a whisper, K'Shai told them it would take at least ten minutes to get a shuttle to them. Maybe fifteen.

"And double that for the return trip. He doesn't have that kind of time." Carlos said urgently.

"Let's get him inside. I'll see what I can do." Immediately, he looked to the stunned Major questioning what supplies that they might have in the trucks.

K'Shai, dazed, barely focused on anything but R'chnt struggling to breathe, did not move.

Carlos urged again.

"Why aren't they doing anything?"

Through her sobs, trying to both comfort and plead with R'chnt to hold on, she glanced from Carlos to W'rsa. She cried to him to help with something that was simply not the Yautja way, but it was the human way.

"Please. W'rsa! We have to try to help him. I can't just let him die."

W'rsa quickly, although somewhat reluctantly, signaled for three others to join him and together they lifted R'chnt carefully and moved him as fast as they could into a building where K'Shai and Lewis cleared off a table as Carlos began calling out orders to the Major and half a dozen other people who had appeared on scene to help.

Everything was happening in a flash and K'Shai lost all focus. She held R'chnt's hand, watched him struggle to breathe and strain to stay awake. She leaned him, whispered in his ear. He reached with his other hand to remove his helmet and she tried twice to stop him.

"It will help you breathe. Don't take it off. R'chnt… please…"

He tried again although weakly and K'Shai, squeezing her eyes shut as a flood of continued tears poured down her cheek, removed the helmet shakily.

She kissed him repeatedly and sobbed as she leaned against him, barely aware of what was going on around her as scrambling people gathered supplies and Carlos started to evaluate the massive injury.

"Hey! K'Shai! K'Shai!" Carlos called, clearly having been trying for some time to get her attention.

"I need this armor out of the way," he said calmly, trying to refocus her, as he nodded towards the armor on R'chnt's chest and thighs.

"I'll do it!" A uniformed nurse grumbled as she moved in to remove R'chnt's armor and Lewis, Carlos, and K'Shai all simulatenously snapped at her.

"No!"

W'rsa growled, looking on from a close distance. K'Shai removed the armor as Lewis covered R'chnt with a blanket and Carlos evaluated the wounds out loud, giving instructions to the nurses as R'chnt started to move. Everyone available moved in to hold him down and K'Shai whispered in his ear, trying hard to get R'chnt to relax and lay still. He started speaking and K'Shai shook her head, looking around quizzically.

"What's he saying?" Lewis asked, seeing the concerned look on K'Shai's face.

"He's not making any sense. He doesn't know where he is." She barely managed to whisper.

She lowered her face to his, squeezing her eyes shut as she tried to quell her sobbing and continue to whisper in his ear.

"R'chnt, you cannot leave. You don't have my permission. Take what you need from me. My heart, my soul. I'll give you all that I am. Please do not dare die."

She shook and sobbed and R'chnt suddenly held quite still.

All the scrambling people stopped and for a moment, a terrible silence filled the room before Carlos urged a nurse to listen again for his heart beat.

She did and nodded.

"He's passed out. It's better that way. He'll stay still." Carlos said, glancing from K'Shai and Lewis back to the gaping wound.

K'Shai stood trembling with a pale face and glazed eyes, white knuckles clenched to the bare tops of R'chnt's shoulders as he lay on a conference table under a flood light consisting of hurriedly duct taped together flashlights.

W'rsa stood only feet away, both perplexed and even slightly annoyed by the unusual situation as the humans worked to tend to the injuries R'chnt had endured. Carlos began to reach his hand into the blood filled cavity and remove dirt and debris as he whispered aloud to anyone who would listen.

"This is some part of … an internal organ. A kidney, maybe, if he's built anything like a human."

He commented as a chunk of tissue fell off in his hand. "Well, shit. I have no idea what it is, but I hope he can live without it."

A nurse, following Carlos's direction began to cut into the other side of R'chnt's abdomen with a surgical knife and run a flush tube into him. W'rsa shifted unhappily and growled.

"K'Shai, the Gods call to him. Let him go to Cetanu with honor."

She turned and glared at W'rsa ferociously.

"I'm calling louder." She said. "I won't let him die."

W'rsa stepped to K'Shai and attempted to clamp a supportive hand on her shoulder as he spoke and the humans glanced between them nervously, most certainly having a fairly good idea what the conversation was about even if they did not understand the words.

"This is not the Yautja…" he started, but K'Shai turned to him, shouting.

"This is _my_ way!" She howled and lunged forward, thumping into W'rsa with her fists several times as she sobbed.

The mighty hunter stepped back away from K'Shai, and Carlos looked up at the commotion.

"All right! Clear the room. Everyone who doesn't need to be here, out!"

With that, several people in the room jumped out with a start, clearly eager to deem themselves part of the 'don't need to be here' category and a few of the hunters lingering along the wall near the doorway took the hint and departed.

W'rsa huffed and clicked his tusks loudly in aggravation and glanced between R'chnt and K'Shai who slung her head low and turned back to the table.

"Just…" she said softly, sighing deeply. "Just stay."

W'rsa kept quiet but stood nearby as Carlos and two others worked diligently trying to stop the massive bleeding and close up the injuries.

"Well. I've done all I can do." Carlos said finally, pulling off a pair of neon green blood soaked gloves. "He's still alive, but he's lost a ton of blood, and I don't know if he'll pull through."

K'Shai had lost all track of time, and was not sure how long R'chnt had been unconscious, but she had intently listened to him breath raspily and slowly the entire time.

Under Carlos's direction three people and W'rsa moved R'chnt carefully to a waiting pile of blankets on the floor. Without a word, K'Shai leaned into R'chnt, stretched her arm carefully around him and pressed her head into his shoulder, shutting her eyes.

"Psst!"

"K'Shai!"

Whispering voices stirred her.

She opened her eyes and immediately held her breath, looking at R'chnt, for a fleeting moment hoping it was him waking her and all was right and back to the normal hell she knew.

Instead, he was unconscious, slumped over although she could see that he was breathing. She looked about and saw Lewis and Carlos staring at her with a look of dread and alarm on their faces and she turned her head sideways.

She jumped to her feet with a start as though the floor suddenly electrocuted her.

"Neh'rti!"

The female elder Leader of the Clan was standing towering over her just a few feet away with a small entourage behind her, including W'rsa. She glared quietly and ticked her mandibles together.

"Most unusual." She growled as she evaluated K'Shai and the fallen elder at her feet.

Neh'rti glanced to the hunters behind her and turned around towards the door.

"Bring him!"

Four hunters collected R'chnt up carefully on a stretcher and K'Shai remained positioned near his head, clutching his shoulder firmly. W'rsa walked just behind her and she glanced at Lewis and Carlos with a thin, weary, and dazed smile.

"I really hope he lives, K'Shai." Lewis whispered.

It was the first time he had called her by the Yautja name R'chnt had given her. She just barely managed a thin, weak and exhausted smile and a quick whisper before she turned to leave with the Yautja party, never releasing her grip on R'chnt.

"Good luck to you."


	31. Epilogue I

**EPILOGUE I**

New Haven was more than just a sanctuary. It truly had become a full working city, with a slightly different style of life than most people really had ever known before the world ended.

It was a giant community that people turned into more than a home. Every able person in the ever growing city pitched in a shared obligation to support and grow the community, to rescue other survivors, to sow crops, raise livestock, and guard.

The Yautja ships were sometimes visible in the skies, mostly at night when their own lights shined brightly. Rarely were they noticeable during the day hovering far above the world while the community of New Haven restored something of a true way of life back to the human race.

Days turned into weeks, weeks became months. A winter passed. A spring blossomed. A summer sun raged over head, but life began anew for the growing populous of New Haven.

Only on rare occasion could the sounds of a stray bug be heard shrieking in the night. Sometimes, in the farthest distance that the look outs could see, a fire might burn as a sign of a battle that was still ongoing.

Carlos resumed his duties as a physician, heading up a hospital district in one section of the city. The military had been reshaped, and as radio communication was slowly restored, eventually, a new governmental structure had been initiated.

Lewis, promoted through the ranks for his efforts, had taken not only new duties and a new found bit of fame, but also a wife.

The school district became home to a new style of education. Teachers taught, and it was clear from the start that the new version of Earth's history would change in a dramatic way. Children learned about a world that existed differently than the horrors that they realized, and as months and months passed, they also learned about how one human girl influenced an alien warrior culture to save the human race.

Lewis and Carlos remained close, living in houses just across the street from one another and as a summer sun began to slowly fade out of the sky one late afternoon day at the end of July, they heard a murmuring from the people around them.

It was a sound of excitement and maybe just a bit of alarm and concern; notions that were almost easy to forget as human life found its way once again.

"Look!" someone called and Lewis, Carlos, and others around them glanced to where the woman was pointing; straight up.

A large fleet of Yautja ships, easily fifty strong, of all different sizes became apparent. They were scattered throughout the clouds for miles, as far as the eye could see, and each one of them began to glow shades of white, blue, and orange.

Their engines were firing up; coming to life and they were descending in small clusters.

"What are they doing?" The crowd murmured.

"They're landing!"

The murmurs turned to whispers.

The whispers turned to exuberant conversations, and soon as Lewis walked to his superiors with Carlos just behind him, all eyes fell upon him, for he had been written into the new world history as one of the two closest friends of the Yautja princess.

"Is it over?"

"It must be done!"

"Are we safe?"

The voices listed into one as people wondered aloud and watched space ships streak across the sky over the next hour, leaving sight; leaving orbit.

Lewis met with his superiors and contemplated the meaning of the ships leaving. There was obviously only one explanation, though somehow, he knew people were looking to him for more information that he simply did not have.

It had been months, and he had not heard from K'Shai at all. He had no idea if R'chnt survived his injuries, and simply did not know about anything the Yautja did or did not do beyond what he could see before him.

Plans were made to send scouting parties out beyond the wide, secured perimeter of the city. Dozens of people, more than a hundred, volunteered for the duty, each one wanting to be the first to step out into the cleared territories beyond their sanctuary.

Suddenly, the eager shouting and exuberant voices grew ever louder and Carlos and Russel headed excitedly towards Lewis to flag his attention. He turned to see them gesturing, shouting.

"Come! Look!" They said, waving their arms in a direction towards the main broadway of the city.

As Lewis and the others rounded the corner and glanced down the street, they saw a massive crowd of people gathering, pouring into the area for a view. From the buildings and the rooftops people gazed into the wide street, watching with excitement and anticipation.

Slowly, Lewis and Carlos began to push through the crowd and in a moment, the excited murmurs and rumblings suddenly grew quiet. People parted ways, eyeing Lewis and Carlos with wide gazes and they looked down the long street to the entrance gates to the city.

An entourage of heavily armored Yautja, each one towering over seven feet tall, males, and females, some wearing their hunting biomasks, some not, entered the city and the crowd fell silent. Lewis and Carlos stepped into the clearing, only barely noticing his superiors tip toeing in behind them, their eyes were locked on the large group of alien hunters.

Between them all, inches away from the very same female they knew to be Neh'rti, was K'Shai. She spotted Lewis and Carlos slowly approaching with awe struck faces, and smiled thinly, lowering her eyes slightly as she stepped forward past the Yautja, who all stopped.

Lewis and Carlos quickly scanned the Yautja group once again before their eyes returned to K'Shai.

She had changed dramatically over the months of her absence.

If they did not know her before, they would not have recognized her. She was clad in a combination of hunting armor and leather robes that shimmered and changed colors from golds to deep blues and greens as she moved.

Her long black hair was adorned with an ornate array of beads that appeared to be made from precious metals and jewels. The faded scar of her clan marking was only barely visible as they got closer to her.

Her entire body had been tattooed with black and deep red markings that looked somewhat like tiger stripes and Yautja wording. She barely looked human at all, and as they gazed upon her without a word, they certainly did not miss her round belly from the child that grew within her.

K'Shai approached her friends, and two of the looming females stepped forward from behind Neh'rti, as though they were K'Shai's body guards. They remained close, but out of arms' reach.

"Lewis! Carlos!" K'Shai spoke lightly, through a pleased smile as she extended her hands forward and greeted them.

"Wow! Look at you, K'Shai." Lewis said graciously.

He turned behind him and invited a reluctant looking woman forward.

"My wife, Diana." He said simply.

K'Shai nodded and lowered her eyes, bowing her head just a little lower. Her mannerisms were different than Lewis and Carlos had known her to be. She stood differently, carried herself with both humility and pride at the same time. She smiled softly yet kept a clenched jaw when silent.

She bowed her head and eyes respectfully, deeply to Diana and just enough to Lewis and Carlos to be polite as a Yautja would be.

"Incredible!" Carlos whispered as he released his grip on K'Shai's hand.

He cleared his throat, clearly trying to delicately step into an uncomfortable, but obvious, question.

"K'Shai, it's good to see you again." He said. "Where is R'chnt?"

She eyed him with a thoughtful gaze and took a deep breath before a small smile cracked her lips again.

"Carlos. You should know, that what you did for him that day…." She spoke slowly, almost a little as though she had to think about how to say the words in English. "… will never be forgotten. Not by me, as I am eternally grateful to you. R'chnt will not forget, and our children will know how you helped him that day. He is alive because of you."

Lewis and Carlos seemed momentarily relieved and perplexed. She said clearly that he was alive, but yet he was also not present.

"Is he…" Lewis started to question and K'Shai gazed to him.

"He will be along in a few moments." She informed him.

"I just wanted to see you again. I cannot stay long. This child, she will be coming soon."

They smiled and offered congratulations. As they talked, Kelly excitedly burst through the crowd and threw her arms around K'Shai happily while Nancy looked on quietly, smiling and nodding an acknowledgement to K'Shai.

Her eyes scanned the crowd and she noticed more than a few familiar, stunned, faces gaze at her and then quite noticeably caught their attention drift back towards the entry gates, past the two dozen hunters standing quietly in the street.

The Yautja parted to each side, clearing a path for a new group of hunters who brought with them, on a hovering platform, the massive head of a queen of the bugs. At the head of the formation was R'chnt. He stepped forward powerfully and moved next to K'Shai, nodding to Lewis and Carlos quietly as she clutched her hand into his.

Carlos scanned R'chnt's body as he approached and noticed the once gaping hole in his side had healed over into a large, obvious scar; a sign of the battle he barely survived.

R'chnt spoke curtly. His deep, alien voice resounding across the hushed crowd.

"K'rut bpi-de."

Lewis and Carlos looked to K'Shai and she smiled.

"It is done." She said loudly, casting her voice across as much of the crowd as she could.

The following cheers, howls, and rejoicing carried on without end. Some of the crowd of spectators moved off to celebrate in their own way while others remained gazing at the Yautja and trying to catch a glimpse of the Yautja King and the human princess that had come to be his bride, as they had learned of the pair now standing before them.

A man appeared between the parting crowd and behind Lewis and Carlos, surrounded by his own backing of uniformed men and women. He stopped before K'Shai and R'chnt, just a few feet past Lewis and extended his arm forward as she spoke throatily.

"I am honored to meet you. I have heard so much about you."

With a growl, R'chnt stepped forward, disallowing physical contact with K'Shai and the man stepped back with alarm. Lewis sidled closer, positioning himself in between R'chnt and the man as he spoke.

"This is the President of the Western World Coalition." He said to K'Shai, who did not seem as impressed as she clearly was expected to be by the man's title.

"President Atwater, this is K'Shai and R'chnt."

Lewis indicated between them and the man stepped forward hesitantly again, eyeing R'chnt carefully.

"Thank you. Thank you so much for all you have done." The President said.

"Our world has already begun to change and rebuild, and now, we can move beyond the walls of New Haven. Thank you. You truly have changed history." He looked between R'chnt and K'Shai as he spoke, clearly trying to gauge their reaction.

K'Shai remained equally as motionless and quiet as R'chnt for a moment before she turned to Lewis.

"I will see you both again, some day."

She paused and reached into a satchel at her side and retrieved two necklaces with dangling pendants that looked to be made from gold embossed bone.

Each one had a blue spot in the center that almost appeared at first glance to be some kind of crystal. As Lewis and Carlos took their pendants, they realized the center of the medallion was glowing softly.

"I will find you."

K'Shai said as she nodded to the pendants, obviously implying they had some kind of tracking device in them.

"We must go."

The President stepped forward with a start.

"There will be… a celebration tonight! Won't you both… and your people… stay? I would like to learn about you."

K'Shai smiled dismissively and repeated her words.

Lewis, Diana, and Carlos walked with her through the city, out of the gates, and to a full size Yautja ship, R'chnt's hunt ship as she identified it, that was landed a short distance away. W'rsa stood tall at the ramp, with a dual-tipped spear taller than he was, at the ready in one hand.

He nodded his helmeted head to the familiar humans and returned into the vessel a moment before R'chnt and K'Shai as she said her goodbyes.

Lewis and the others watched her walk up the ramp at the back of the vessel, and a door slid closed as the ship rumbled to life and rose off the ground.

K'Shai took a deep, content breath and walked through the elliptical _kehrite_ , sparring arena, at the back of the ship, past trophy cases that displayed the skulls of kills of all who had hunted under R'chnt's tutelage.

As the doors slid closed over the trophy racks, K'Shai only barely glanced at the skull of a Yautja of the M'jor clan, with a broken lower right jaw.

She looked to R'chnt and delicately caressed him down his arm and across his chest, running her hand down to the healed wound on his abdomen as she smiled at him.

"We will be home soon, my K'Shai." He said quietly as he stroked her face with a small smile on his upper tusks.

She tipped her head into his palm and smiled widely, then gasped with pain as she grabbed her belly and grimaced.

"It's time!"


	32. Author's Note

Author's Note:

Thank you for reading this story. I first penned this story (yes, with an actual pen on actual paper) back in 1998. I can't tell you how many times it's been revised over nearly 20 years to what it is today. This is a truly special story to me that I hope you have enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing.

I am overwhelmed by the comments and feedback, both in reviews and private messages. I have never been bold enough to share my work before, and I am truly thrilled that many have enjoyed this tale. Comments and reviews are much appreciated. Everyone sees something different, and I find that fascinating!

You might be interested to know that the whole basis for this story was purely to be a love story. Everything else, I consider "fluff". I truly hope you enjoyed reading about my "fluffy" xenomorph apocalypse and about R'chnt and his K'Shai. (The names are pronounced ri-chaaant and kuh-sigh).

Thank you again!


End file.
